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Umami for anchovy haters. Roast autumn vegetables with warm walnut miso dressing

 During lockdown we have tried to keep our meat intake down, eating red meat around once a week. The rest of the time it’s chicken or fish and we make sure that we regularly go for a completely vegetarian main meal of the day.

Given we are in the heart of winter and the height of lockdown we are also fairly limited on the choice of appropriately sustainable vegetable choices, having said that there are still plenty of delicious root vegetables to choose from. 

This recipe is from the excellent ‘from the oven to the table’ by Diana Henry which has a wide variety of very easy and tasty recipes. What I love about this recipe is the umami taste delivered by the unusual warm dressing. For me the discovery of the fabulously umami-ish taste of the dressing (why am I so late to the miso party you may ask?) and the delightful crunch and nuttiness of the walnuts.

The choice of vegetables is one of taste, availability and roast-ability. I did a combo of cauliflower, fennel, carrots, and red onions finishing it off with some fresh chopped coriander and a few rocket leaves for a bit of greenery.


Here’s the original recipe

Roast autumn vegetables – carrots, butternut squash, pumpkin and onions – make a healthy and delicious vegan main course, or a lovely side dish. Cooked in a drier heat rather than in simmering stock, you end up with scorched wedges of pumpkin. Serve them with this warm walnut sauce. Prep time: 10 minutes | Cooking time: 40 minutes


Serves four  as a main course, more as a side dish


Ingredients


  • 10 slim carrots 
  • 500g celeriac
  • 500g butternut squash or pumpkin, cut into thick wedges and deseeded
  • 3 large white or red onions, cut into wedges
  • 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
  • 3 heads endive, red or white (or a mixture) 


For the sauce

  • 55g walnut pieces
  • 200ml extra-virgin olive oil (a fruity rather than a grassy one)
  • 75g red miso paste
  • 1⁄2 tsp chilli flakes
  • 3 fat garlic cloves, grated to a purée


Method


  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/190C fan*/Gas 6.
  2. Trim the carrots. Leave the green tufts if there are any but wash them well. If you haven’t been able to get slim carrots then halve larger ones along their length.
  3. Peel the celeriac and cut it into big wedges. Put all the vegetables – except the endive – into a couple of roasting tins (or baking trays that have a lip all the way around) where they can lie in a single layer. Add the oil, season (not too much salt as the sauce is salty) and toss everything around with your hands.
  4. Roast for 40 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and slightly scorched, turning them once. Quarter the endive heads and add halfway through the cooking time, coating them in the oil.
  5. While the vegetables are roasting make the sauce. Pound the walnuts in a mortar and pestle – or blitz in a food processor using the pulse button – until you have a mixture that is part finely ground and part chunky pieces. Put the olive oil in a saucepan and set over a very gentle heat. Add the miso and whisk it together – rather than breaking down completely it will stay in little globules separate from the oil, but that’s fine. Add the chilli and garlic and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes, stirring every so often. The garlic must not colour. Stir in the walnuts and cook for another 2 minutes.
  6. Transfer the vegetables to a large platter. Either spoon the sauce over or serve it on the side.


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