Brown Rice Bowls with Roasted Fall Vegetables

This week farm member Sarah Hamstra shares a recipe that includes three delicious items from your share: radishes with their greens, carrots, and Brussels sprouts.  Thank you, Sarah!

One of the veggies featured in this recipe is Brussels sprouts, and the timing couldn’t be better.  Brussels sprouts sweeten after exposure to frost, which we experienced here at our farm this weekend for the first time this fall.  Our favorite way to eat these little cabbages is sautéed or roasted, so they work perfectly in this recipe.

Here are the instructions from Sarah’s kitchen:

Stepping into Julie’s blogging shoes for the week is an intimidating proposition, as a business major who now sells real estate, but I’m up for the challenge! She and I do share a love of food and of cooking, which is part of what originally sparked our friendship. My husband Brian and I have been farm members since 2010—the inaugural year!—and we even have the vintage Good Earth Farm canvas tote to prove it. We have two little girls, Elizabeth and Anneliese, and we make our home in DeMotte.

Roasted vegetables and I have a love affair. My default way to prep vegetables is to toss with olive oil, maybe add some garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice, and spread on a sheet pan in a hot oven until they’re browned and delicious. Think you don’t like broccoli? Prepare it this way and you’ll be sneaking bites straight off the pan before dinner.

Julie’s recipes last year opened my eyes to thinking about new ways to use the greens in our farm share. Of course, carrots, beets, and radishes all have greens, but for years, I discarded them without giving it a second thought. Last fall, though, I made several amazing frittatas with radish or beet greens. So, when paging through my Real Simple magazine last month, a recipe using radishes and their greens caught my eye and was occasion to immediately text Julie and tell her about it.

The original recipe calls for cremini mushrooms, zucchini, and radishes. My sister and I made this together the first time, and tossed in some peppers we had on hand. When I prepared it for this post, I skipped the zucchini and added carrots and Brussels sprouts. I love recipes like this one that are easily adaptable to what’s in season or what you might already have on hand!

Start by preparing your rice. Brown rice is better for you and has a slightly nutty, more complex taste. I used brown basmati rice in this recipe. It will take about 35 minutes to cook, so get that started right away.

Preheat the oven to 425. Cut your vegetables into halves or quarters, depending on how large they are.

Pull out a sheet pan. Toss your chopped vegetables with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Use fresh lemon juice for the best taste – it’s brighter and fresher-tasting than bottled. Top with a little kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Roast the veggies for 20-30 minutes or until browned and done to your liking.

While your vegetables are roasting, you’ll want to prepare the sesame dressing. Toast one tablespoon of sesame seeds in a hot, dry skillet for about 3-5 minutes, until the sesame seeds are lightly browned.  Remove the sesame seeds, and, in the same skillet, toast about ½ cup whole walnuts for about 5-10 minutes.  The recipe calls for chopped walnuts, but wait to chop them until after they’re toasted and cooled. Set them aside.

Whisk together 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, the sesame seeds, and 3 tablespoons each of olive oil and lemon juice.

Roughly chop your radish greens.

Directly after chopping the radish greens, gently toss them with the other roasted veggies on the sheet pan. By combining them in this way, fresh out of the oven, the radish greens flash cook without wilting. 

Serve the roasted vegetables over brown rice, drizzled with the sesame-soy dressing and topped with the toasted walnuts. The combination of the brown rice, vegetables, and walnuts made this a really hearty and satisfying meal. I taste-tested this recipe on my sister, my two-year old, and my lovely friend Jolene and it got rave reviews all around. The leftovers also reheated wonderfully for lunch the next day, which is another big plus for me when it comes to quick and healthy meals. Enjoy!

Photograph and Food Styling: Anne Kingma

Brown Rice Bowls with Roasted Fall Vegetables

2015-10-19 05:54:22

A healthy, hearty, satisfying fall meal.

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Ingredients

1. 1½ cups brown rice
2. 1 ½-2 cups (6 oz) Brussels sprouts, halved
3. 4 slender carrots, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
4. 8 radishes with greens, radishes halved and greens chopped
5. 8 oz mushrooms, halved
6. 5 tablespoons olive oil
7. 5 tablespoons lemon juice
8. Kosher salt and black pepper
9. 1 tablespoon soy sauce
10. 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
11. ½ cup chopped toasted walnuts

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 425° F. Cook the rice according to the package directions.
2. Toss the Brussels sprouts, carrots, mushrooms, and radishes with 2 tablespoons of the oil, 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast on a baking sheet until tender and browned in spots, 20 to 25 minutes, tossing halfway through. Remove from oven and stir in the radish greens.
3. Whisk together the soy sauce, sesame seeds, and the remaining 3 tablespoons each of lemon juice and olive oil in a small bowl.
4. Serve the roasted vegetables/greens and walnuts over the rice, drizzled with the dressing.

By Sarah Hamstra

Adapted from Brown Rice Bowls with Roasted Vegetables and Lemon-Soy Dressing by Justin Chapple

Adapted from Brown Rice Bowls with Roasted Vegetables and Lemon-Soy Dressing by Justin Chapple

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