Roasted Broccoli and Wheat Berry Bowl with Nutritional Yeast Sauce

This is adapted from a NYTimes Cooking recipe that inspires improvisation. I used broccolini from our shares, but this could also be repeated with cauliflower, brussel sprouts, or even roasted kale. The resulting flavor resembles a vegan version of comforting broccoli-cheddar soup. You can make the sauce and the wheat berries up to 3 days in advance to make this an easy weeknight dinner. Recipe is for 3-4 people, adjust as needed.

Ingredients

• 1-2 CSA shares of broccolini and/or kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts – all cut into bit size pieces, stems and greens included
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• Kosher salt & black pepper
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• Zest & juice of 1 large lemon (Note to self: it is way easier to zest a lemon BEFORE you cut it open and juice it!)
• 1 tablespoon dijon or spicy mustard
• 2-3 garlic gloves or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (see note below)
• 4 cups cooked grains (i.e. wheat berries) warm or room temperature
• Optional: roasted and chopped almonds and/or grilled diced chicken

Directions

Cook wheat berries in advance (up to one week ahead, rinse, cool, and keep in an airtight container in the fridge). You could cook farro or quinoa according to its instructions instead).

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. Place two baking sheets in the oven to warm.

In a large bowl, toss all veggies with enough oil to thoroughly coat them (about 1/4 cup) and sprinkle generously with kosher salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to the baking sheets but don’t clean out the bowl. Roast veggies for 15-20 minutes, turning the baking sheets half-way through to achieve tender and yet crisp, lightly browned veggies.

In a small bowl, stir together the nutritional yeast, 1/4 cup water, remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, the lemon juice, mustard and minced garlic or garlic powder. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Note: Although garlic powder will mix together better here, I don’t like it and always prefer fresh garlic. You can mince or press 2-3 cloves and then add them. This works best if you are making the sauce a day or two ahead to give the fresh garlic time to permeate the sauce, but still works fine (and with strong garlic tones) if making before serving.

Add the grains to the large bowl and stir around to absorb the remaining olive oil. Season and dress the grains with salt, the lemon zest, and some (about half) of the nutritional yeast dressing to taste.

Top the grains with roasted veggies and stir lightly to mix, adding more nutritional yeast to each individual bowl to taste. Optional: top with the almonds and/or grilled chicken.

Submitted by Daniela Diamente, Tucson CSA