Caramelized Roasted Vegetables

During lent Will and I and some friends got together for dinner and prayer/reflection each Saturday. Each week we would bring food to share. One week it was our turn to bring a vegetable. I found this recipe in "From Our House to Yours: Comfort Food to Give and Share." It looked delicious, so I decided to give it a try. The list of vegetables they suggest is optional - you can use whatever vegetables you want, but I went mostly with the list (I only skipped the fennel) so I wouldn't have to think too much (am I getting too many veggies? too few? etc).
I also loved this recipe because it has so few ingredients - other than the variety of vegetables - which made preparing this dish a cinch.
One other thing to note, I would prepare the eggplant first so it has time to drain. I didn't pay attention to the directions fully and didn't have time to let the eggplant sit for 30 mins. But if you cut it up first and set it aside it can be draining while you're preparing all the other vegetables.

Caramelized Roasted Vegetables
Ingredients
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 unpeeled russet potato, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
2 green zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices
2 yellow zucchini or summer squash, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices
1 eggplant, cubed, salted, allowed to drain for 30 minutes in a colander, and patted dry
1 head garlic, broken into unpeeled cloves
2 yellow onions, cut into 9 wedges each
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and sliced into wedges
1 or more red bell peppers, seeded and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-wide strips
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 fresh sprigs, or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Arrange all the vegetables in 3 or more large roasting pans, drizzle with the olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Using your hands, toss the vegetables so that all of them are evenly coated. Break up 1 of the rosemary sprigs and distribute it over the vegetables, or sprinkle the dried rosemary over them.

2) Roast until the vegetables are brown and tender, turning them once or twice to avoid sticking, about 1 hour. Transfer to a large platter and serve warm, with a sprig of rosemary on top.

The picture in my cookbook shows the vegetables in a glass dish. I used 2 large cake pans and 1 large, glass casserole dish to cook in. The vegetables didn't stick to the cake pans at all, but they did stick to the glass dish and all the vegetables were equally delicious. So, if you can avoid using glass to cook in it will make you're life a little simpler when it comes to clean up.

I realize this picture doesn't make the vegetables look all that appetizing, but trust me they were delicious!