Creamy Root Vegetable Bake
The following recipe and photography were provided by our partner, Yoko Segawa of Yoko’s Kitchen.
While the holidays are all about indulging in seasonal dishes and desserts, it’s still important to eat your veggies!
Don’t stop reading just yet! I’m not saying you have to chase your favorite comfort food with a full plate of broccoli; instead, you can take a few seasonal vegetables and turn them into a warm, creamy bake that no one will believe is relatively good for you!
For this particular recipe, I chose root vegetables such as parsnips, carrots, leeks, and sweet potatoes for hearty, earthy flavor and texture. Tossed with a vegan cream sauce and baked to bubbly perfection, your guests will be begging for the recipe after just one bite!
Creamy Root Vegetable Bake
Cook time: 60min Prep time: 15min Total time: 75min
Servings: 8
Ingredients
For the Vegetables
- 2 parsnips, cut into sticks (2 inches long & ½ inch thick)
- 2 carrots, cut into sticks (2 inches long & ½ inch thick)
- 1 leek, quartered lengthwise and cut to 2 inches in length
- 1 sweet potato, cut into sticks (2 inches long & ½ inch thick)
- 2 Tbsp. Heinen’s extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cups Heinen's walnuts, chopped
- Sea salt
- Black pepper
For the Cream Sauce
- ¼ cup Miyoko’s salted vegan butter
- 1 cup leek, sliced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
- ¼ cup Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour
- 2 cups almond milk
- 1 tsp. fresh thyme
- 3 Tbsp. Bob’s Red Mill nutritional yeast
- 1 Tbsp. Heinen's Dijon mustard
- Sea salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F
- In a 2.5 qt. baking dish, toss the parsnips, carrots, leek, sweet potato, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and reserve some vegetable sticks for topping. Set aside.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the leek and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and cook until aromatic, 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the brown rice flour and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Gradually add the milk, starting with a few tablespoons at a time. Mix well until the mixture is combined and becomes a thick paste. Repeat with the rest of the milk.
- Stir in the thyme, nutritional yeast, and Dijon mustard. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bring the sauce to a boil and cook until thickened.
- Transfer the sauce into the baking dish over the baked root vegetables. Use a wooden spoon to spread the sauce.
- Arrange the reserved vegetable sticks over the surface in a single layer to decorate.
- Scatter the walnuts evenly over the surface.
- Bake at 400°F until the vegetables become tender, about 30 minutes. If the walnuts become too dark, cover with aluminum foil during baking. Remove from the oven and garnish with more thyme.