Roasted Veggie Rainbow with Pot-of-Gold Hummus
Even though I’m not super into St. Patrick’s day, I’ll take any excuse to celebrate! I love making festive food!
Cater this idea to your preferences! What are your favorite vegetables? What’s your favorite hummus? Do you prefer raw or roasted veggies?
If you or your family don’t like vegetables very much, I highly recommend trying some roasted vegetables. Roasting (which is just baking) brings out a lot of sweetness, almost a carmelizing effect. Roasted vegetables are delicious by themselves, on a salad, in a wrap, or stabbed with your fork and dipped into a Pot o’ Gold (curry hummus!).
The hummus recipe is adapted from my very favorite hummus recipe from Cookie and Kate. You could also make yellow lentil hummus, a coconut curry hummus, or just use your favorite store-bought hummus.
You’ll be lucky if you eat this rainbow–everyone who eats a rainbow of vegetables is fighting disease and boosting their immune system! You don’t even need the treasure at the end of the rainbow when you have the treasure of good health. Health is wealth!
Who doesn't like to eat a rainbow?
- 1 red bell pepper
- 4 carrots or 1 sweet potato
- 1 yellow summer squash or yellow bell pepper
- 2 zucchini, 1 bunch of broccoli, asparagus, or brussel sprouts
- 1 purple onion or purple potatoes
- salt, pepper, thyme
- balsamic vinegar or olive oil (optional)
- Raw or steamed cauliflower "clouds"
- 1 can chickpeas (or 1 1/2 cups, cooked)
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 2-4 tbsp ice water
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric (for even deeper gold color)
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In a food processor, pulse lemon juice, garlic and salt. Let sit for at least 10 minutes to eliminate the sharp taste of raw garlic.
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Add tahini and blend until light and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon ice water at a time and keep running the food processor until smooth.
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Add the cumin, curry powder, and turmeric (if using) and the chickpeas. Blend until very smooth. Taste and add more salt, cumin, or lemon juice to taste.
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Cut vegetables into 1-inch pieces. Preheat oven to 425 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
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Put potatoes, carrots, and onions, and/or brussel sprouts on one baking sheet (if not using oil, I like to steam these vegetables first until crisp-tender). These vegetables need to cook longest.
Put any bell peppers, squash, broccoli or zucchini on the 2nd baking sheet.
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I roast vegetables without any oil, but if you want to toss the vegetables with oil, the best are grapeseed or avocado oil, as they don't produce trans fats in high heat. A little balsamic vinegar is also delicious!
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Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Bake the starchy vegetables for 30-45 minutes, and the other vegetables for 20-30 minutes, until soft and golden brown.
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Assemble rainbows on each plate, with cauliflower clouds and a pot of gold hummus at the end!
For a quick version, you can buy yellow lentil hummus, or mix curry powder into your favorite store-bought hummus.
Raw vegetables make this an easy vegetable platter.
We like roasted vegetables, and we like hummus, so this was a dish we enjoyed very much. Having those things in a rainbow landscape made it fun! It’s pretty labor intensive, but if you have children who are 6 years old and up, who could help with peeling, chopping, getting the steam pan ready, preparing the ingredients for the hummus, it could be an enjoyable and educative family project, with a fun result–eating something clever and delicious that they helped make. I used much more water than it called for, so be prepared to add more. Also, it could use an additional 1/2 tsp or so of cumin and curry powder.