American

Roasted Autumn Vegetables With Walnut-Miso Sauce

by:
August  6, 2019
4
5 Ratings
Roasted Autumn Vegetables With Walnut-Miso Sauce
Photo by Laura Edwards
  • Prep time 10 minutes
  • Cook time 45 minutes
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

The sauce here is rather like a vegetarian version of the Piedmontese anchovy sauce, bagna cauda (though it’s even more umami-packed). It’s not one of those vegetable recipes that feels like a side dish, where you keep searching for the focus, but has enough different flavors and textures from each vegetable to be layered and surprising.

Reprinted with permission from From the Oven to the Table: Simple Dishes That Look After Themselves by Diana Henry, Mitchell Beazley October 2019, photo credit: Laura Edwards —Diana Henry

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Vegetables
  • 10 thin carrots with greens attached, in mixed colors if possible
  • 1 pound celery root
  • 1 pound butternut squash or pumpkin, seeded, and 
cut into wedges about 
1¼ in thick
  • 3 large white or red onions, cut into wedges
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 Belgian endives, red or white (or a mixture)
  • 1 pinch sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
  • Sauce
  • 1/2 cup walnut pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil (a fruity rather than a grassy one)
  • 5 tablespoons red miso paste
  • 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely grated
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  2. Trim the carrots at the top and tips (if there are long straggly bits on the tips). 
Leave the green tufts if there are any, but wash them really well. If you haven’t been able to get slim carrots, then halve them along their length.
  3. Peel the celery root and cut it into wedges about ¾in thick. Put all the vegetables—except the Belgian endive—into a couple of roasting pans, or sheet pans that have a lip all the way around, in which they can lie in a single layer. Add the olive oil, season (don’t use too much salt, as the sauce will be salty), and toss everything around with your hands. Roast for 40 minutes, until tender and slightly scorched, turning them once. Quarter the Belgian endive heads and add halfway through, tossing them in the oil.
  4. Make the sauce. Pound the walnuts in a mortar—or pulse-blend in a food 
processor—until you have a mixture that is part finely ground and part chunky.
  5. Pour the olive oil into a saucepan set over a very gentle heat. Add the miso and whisk it together: the miso will stay in little globules separate from the oil, but that’s normal. Add the chili and garlic and simmer very gently for about 5 minutes, stirring every so often. The garlic must not color. Stir in the walnuts and cook for another 2 minutes.
  6. Transfer the vegetables to a warmed platter. Either spoon the sauce over the top, or serve it on the side.
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  • Brinda Ayer
    Brinda Ayer
  • Diana Henry
    Diana Henry
  • Alli
    Alli
  • CathyJ
    CathyJ

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6 Reviews

Alli
Alli September 26, 2021
I made this recipe twice in the past 2 weeks. I love it, and it's very addictive! The first time I made it, it was for a family dinner (the first time we had gotten together in a while). Sometimes it can be stressful making new recipes for a special occassion, but luckily this worked out perfectly with no fuss! This got great reviews for everyone.

I made this again tonight, thinking it was a perfect make ahead meal for a busy week (I live alone, so this will last me several days). Still very delicious. This time around, I ended up cutting the olive oil in half for the sauce, and it still had a nice consistency and tasted delicious, so I'll probably continue to use 3/4 cup when making this recipe in the future.
 
CathyJ
CathyJ January 11, 2020
My husband made this earlier in the week. We were both surprised at the quantity of oil for the sauce, but we triple checked it from the recipe book and the recipe online. Once it was cooked we only used a fraction of the sauce, trying to skim off all the oil and just get the miso, walnuts & garlic. Whilst being very tasty it was still far too oily for us and we ended up pouring the equivalent of about half a bottle of oil away. Is it a misprint? 350 ml / 12 fl oz of oil is the quantity I would use to deep fry something not put in a sauce! Has anyone else found this?
 
don
don November 29, 2019
So I actually had tasted bagna cauda this past Spring while we were in the Piedmont area of Italy, and although I liked it, I found it a little too salty for my taste. And when I tasted the sauce, I thought it tasted very much like its cousin and worried that it would make the vegetables too salty. But in fact, it was just the right amount of saltiness, and one of my guests asked for the recipe. Seeing as how this was Thanksgiving dinner, I roasted the vegetables earlier in the day, and then spread the sauce over them when I reheated it. I would definitely make this again at anytime during the year.
 
Esty
Esty August 7, 2019
Can this be served next day at room temp?
 
Brinda A.
Brinda A. August 12, 2019
Hi Esty, yes I think so—I'd make the sauce the day you're serving the dish, though, or store the two separately. The vegetables will likely lose a bit of their snap and not be quite as crunchy the next day, but the flavor will be delicious. Hope you enjoy!
 
Diana H.
Diana H. August 13, 2019
Sorry to take so long to come back to you. It can be served at room temperature but I prefer it warm. The sauce doesn't have to be warm but I think the vegetables do. It's a personal thing, though. I prefer cooked carrots warm. Hope you like the dish when you make it