First of all, thank you to everyone who entered my Cocofina Snack Bar Giveaway! The winner has now been contacted by email. Sorry if it wasn’t you!
All of a sudden I’ve found myself busy busy busy and chasing to keep up. More university work, more other work, friends to stay…life in general! I’ve still got recipe ideas coming out of my ears, I’m just not having the chance to execute them.
The last thing I like giving up when things get busy is my kitchen time but I’m learning that tasty doesn’t always have to be complicated, and an interesting vegetable dish served alongside very simple grains, beans or lentils can be a really good meal. My Butternut with Roasted Red Pepper, Walnut & Parsley Pesto was the first vegetable star and these Sticky Roasted Vegetables with Sesame-Miso Dressing came up next.
Wandering around the Farmers’ market (I MAKE time for that) everything was looking a bit battered, not surprisingly given the storms and rain we’ve had, but these grubby parsnips and carrots had my name on them.
The hardest part of this recipe was washing the mud off the vegetables!
Tossed in olive oil and maple or agave and left to roast the parsnips and carrots’ natural sweetness is brought out. An umami-filled dressing and a sprinkling of sesame seeds finishes the dish off beautifully.
- 3-4 Medium-size carrots, well-washed/peeled and sliced lengthwise
- 3-4 Medium-size parsnips, well-washed/peeled and sliced lengthwise
- 200g/1/2 lb Tenderstem OR Purple-sprouting broccoli, trimmed
- 1T Olive oil
- 1T Liquid sweetener (e.g. maple syrup, yacon syrup, agave nectar), divided
- 1/2T Sesame seeds
- 1 1/2T Toasted sesame oil
- 1/2T Liquid sweetener
- 1/2T Brown rice vinegar
- 1t White miso
- 1 Small clove of garlic, minced
- 1t Grated ginger
- Preheat oven to 190C/375F.
- Toss the carrots and parsnips in the olive oil and spread in a single layer in a large roasting dish. Cook for approx 25 minutes or until tender and slightly browned.
- Add the broccoli to the roasting dish, drizzle the vegetables with the tablespoon of sweetener and scatter over the sesame seeds.
- Return to oven and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes to caramelize.
- Meanwhile, whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Remove the roasted vegetables to a serving dish and drizzle with the sesame-miso dressing. Alternatively, allow individuals to dress their vegetables with their desired quantity.
I’m really enjoying making vegetables the star in the show. Do you have any particularly fantastic vegetable side-dishes I should know about?
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I love muddy veggies. Reminds me that what I’m eating just came from the earth. And you cooked your veggies perfectly to retain that gorgeous color! I WILL be trying this!
I agree. They tasted super sweet and fresh too
Hope you enjoy!
Beautiful pictures - it looks amazing!
Thanks for your sweet comment as always Laura
i love the “sticky” aspect of the vegetables! i’m always looking for new ways to roast vegetables and this looks so simple and delicious not to try.
I can eat mountains of roasted vegetables and love them “au naturel” but these were extra delicious!
This is a really beautiful dish Emma! I love the sound of the ingredients and flavours too.
Finding time for kitchen creativity and blogging AND everything else can be really hard sometimes. However, I figure that food and blogging should be flexible if they are to remain fun, and easy meals come to the rescue for me quite often. I think vegan eating helps with that too because there are so many delicious twists on simple staples - like you say, grains, legumes and vegetables never fail. I hope you’re enjoying the things making you busy but have some downtime again soon too!
Thanks for the reassurance Kari. At least my busy-ness hasn’t been all work no play
I find time when I can for kitchen fun!
My favourite vegetable EVER is probably butternut squash. Roast in the oven for an hour and it’s just heavenly. I love roasting it with ready-peeled chestnuts, some cinnamon and maybe a dash of maple syrup (I usually make that recipe for Christmas, it’s on my blog). It’s just so lovely. Ultimate comfort food.
(But this looks pretty damn good too
Btw, aren’t the storms frequent and heavy on your side of the country? Stay safe xoxo
Mmmm butternut and chestnuts together sounds perfect. We usually do brussels & chestnuts at Christmas
We’re ok here-just A LOT of rain and wind. I think as I’m in the city we’re a little more protected. xx
this dish calls out to me - I just love roasted veg when I am busy and the weather is cold - yum
I like your carrots and parnsips - they look honest, and nice to hear you are supporting farmers markets while the farmers are having a torrid time with floods and rains - I must get down to mine soon.
I bet your markets are brimming with beautiful produce right now. We’re sort of in that in-between stage with the end of winter veg but spring veg aren’t really here yet. i still like to go though.
Hope you try the recipe.
Those veggies sure clean up nice ;-)! Roasted veggies are the best and the miso dressing makes them extra special.
Hehe, nothing a good soak and scrub can’t do. You’re exactly right on the dressing- I can eat mountains of vegetables just roasted in olive oil with salt and pepper but this was a little special.
Love the inclusion of miso! Love your blog, your photos, love your Instagram! And I can’t wait to try some of your recipes
Thanks so much Lilli
And for introducing me to your beautiful blog too!
It looks and sounds delicious! I love root vegetables and they get all sweet and wonderful when roasted. Yum.
These are simply beautiful! I love the colours and of course you cannot go wrong with sesame anything!
I must admit that this idea I find extremely intriguing and am going to have to give it a try, maybe at a barbecue producing sticky vegetable kebabs.
That’s a great idea Douglas! You could use the same idea on any vegetables and I bet they’d be great for sticky barbecued skewers.
This looks delicious Emma! I would eat just this plate for lunch or dinner and be happy. The dressing sounds fabulous, I just got some miso and sesame seeds so will definitely be trying this, thanks!
Miso really is one of the best ingredients! I’ve been using it in so much lately. Hope you enjoy the recipe 😀