Recipe | Roasted roots with wild rice, griddled halloumi & tahini dressing

I’m very excited to launch a brand-new series in collaboration with fellow Bristol-dweller Kym Grimshaw, whose beautiful blog, On the Plate, is one of my favourite sources of food inspiration.

I’ve been keen to incorporate some food content into These Four Walls for a while now, and Kym was the obvious person to ask. She has a passion for cooking and creates deliciously inventive dishes that are packed with fresh, local produce. Each month she’ll be sharing a recipe designed to make the most of seasonal ingredients, and her first offering looks mouth-watering indeed. A Middle Eastern twist on warming winter vegetables, it’s perfect for icy January evenings and is surprisingly simple to make.

Over to Kym for more…

“I had, until now, grown tired of root vegetables – carrots, beetroot and parsnips have been ‘current’ in the seasonal calendar for more months than I can count on one hand. I’m bored and I miss asparagus, amongst other things! But roast them until they’re sweet and tender, serve them with salty charred halloumi and finish with a creamy tahini dressing, and you might just change my mind.”

Ingredients (serves 4) 

• 200g wild rice
• 250g halloumi, sliced
• 4 parsnips, sliced lengthways
• 4 beetroots, finely sliced
• 6-8 small carrots, sliced lengthways
• 2 tbsp olive oil

For the tahini dressing:

• 3 tbsp tahini (a paste made from ground sesame seeds)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220C / 200C fan / gas 7 while you prepare and slice the vegetables.
2. Cook the rice according to the pack instructions.
3. Toss all the vegetables together in a large roasting tin with the olive oil. Season well and bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes. Remove a couple of times during roasting and shake them around so they don’t burn.
4. Mix the ingredients for the dressing, and loosen with a little water to achieve your desired consistency.
5. Heat up a griddle pan or cast-iron pan until very hot. Ensure your halloumi slices are dry and griddle on each side until nicely charred.
6. Remove the vegetables from the oven once tender, and stir through the wild rice.
7. Serve the roots and rice mix, topped with a few slices of halloumi and the dressing.

Kym will share another recipe on These Four Walls next month. In the meantime, head over to On the Plate for more seasonal inspiration.

Photography by Kym Grimshaw