Miso-Maple Roasted Roots + Miso-Creamed Kale

We're celebrating Meatless Mondays with balanced, delicious meal plans. We hope you'll join us -- whether you're vegetarian all the time or just here and there.

Today: Feeling blasé about vegetables? Miso paste can help with that.

Are you already feeling blasé in regards to root vegetables, kale, and mushrooms? Don't give up now -- there's a long winter ahead of you. Instead, jolt your vegetables back to life with miso (salt!), maple (sugar!), and, of course, cream and butter (fat!). Suddenly, your vegetables won't seem boring at all. Plus, you'll have a jar of miso paste in your fridge, which will serve your soups and stir-fries all season long.

Take these steps:

Preheat the oven to 350° F and line a baking sheet with parchment. While the oven heats, chop a couple of pounds of root vegetables (like carrots, radishes, and parsnips) into 1/2-inch pieces. Whisk together their sauce -- miso, maple syrup, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and canola oil -- and pour it over the vegetables. Transfer them to the baking sheet and roast for 30 to 40 minutes.

While the vegetables roast, make the creamed kale. Sauté thinly sliced shallots and garlic in butter, then add handfuls of roughly chopped kale leaves and cook them until they wilt. In another pan, sauté some mushrooms in butter until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in soy sauce. When the kale is wilted, add vermouth, cream, and miso and stir until incorporated. Serve the kale with mushrooms scattered atop and serve next to the roasted vegetables.

The Menu

Take advantage of our handy grocery list and click the recipe photos or titles to see (and save and print) the full recipes.

Miso-Maple Roasted Roots by Nicholas Day

Trent Pierce's Miso-Creamed Kale by Genius Recipes

The Grocery List

Serves 4

2 pounds root vegetables
2 tablespoons white miso paste
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 large shallot
1 bunch lacinato kale
1/2 cup shimeji mushrooms with stems, or shiitake mushroom tops
1/4 cup dry vermouth
1/2 cup heavy cream

You probably have maple syrup or honey, soy sauce, canola or grapeseed oil, butter, garlic, and salt and pepper. If not, add those to the list, too.

Photos by James Ransom