Roasted Squash and Carrots with Miso Glaze

I used this roasted winter squash and carrots with miso glaze this week during my weekly meal prep. I doubled it to make 4 hearty lunch bowls. It’s easy to multiply, really easy to assemble, and reheats fine but is also great cold.

I did add tofu to up the protein content and would prefer to use some of the marinade on the tofu as well to add more flavor. Just brush some of the marinade over the uncooked tofu and pop in the oven at 350 for 20ish minutes to get it slightly crisp. Such a hearty and healthy lunch or dinner!

My companion and I finished every bit of this delicious healthy roasted winter squash and carrots with miso glaze. Kabocha’s subtle sweetness and salty miso were a perfect combination, and both were lovely caramelized from roasting. And the nutty brown rice and creamy avocado made it a pretty substantial vegetarian meal.

Shortly after we dug in, we thought the rice and greens could use some additional flavor. So I quickly made another batch of the marinade, we drizzled it over our rice bowls, and we had a winner!

Not only was the dinner tasty, but easy to put together since kabocha never needs peeling and I almost always have cooked brown rice in the freezer. I defrosted it in the refrigerator overnight, and reheated it slightly in the microwave to improve the texture and mouthfeel before serving as it’s too dry and crumbly when cold. (Since brown rice takes a long time to cook, I highly recommend making a BIG pot of it, divvying it up and freezing it. Coincidentally, 3 cups of cooked rice fits nicely in a quart-size bag! A timesaver for multiple meals.)

This roasted winter squash and carrots with miso glaze is a very nice Meatless Monday choice or any hearty lunch or light dinner when you need to eat healthy or clear out leftover rice. The miso dressing gives the vegetables a nice flavor. We topped the rice and vegetables with avocado, arugula, and extra-firm tofu. The flavors blended well in this simple dish.

What would I do next time? Make the dressing but skip the 20 minutes of marinating. I really doubt that there is any penetration of the marinade into the cut vegetables. I would add some crunch to the finished dish like toasted walnuts or pecans. As we served it, the texture of the tofu, avocado, vegetables and rice were soft, so bumping up a crunch element would be a nice addition. Finally, a suggestion from my husband would be toss the finished rice with a drizzle of the roasted sesame oil, again to amp up the flavor.