Roast carrots,tomatoes,quinoa and mint

I've been trying to eat primarily veggies for some time now and I'm not sure why it took me so long to stumble upon Ottelenghi and his amazing vegetarian recipes. This post from Smitten Kitchen  as well as a couple of instagram posts (from @tasteoftaskadwa) helped to propel me in the right direction and I recently attempted some of his recipes. While his dishes are not exactly quick to make, they are definitely worth the time and effort you spend in the kitchen preparing them. 

This roast carrot, gingery tomatoes, quinoa and mint dish called to me as soon as I read it, which is surprising since I've never really been a fan of quinoa (despite the hype around it's health benefits and high protein content, I've just never managed to cook it in a way that appeals to me). I think this recipe has converted me. 

It seems strange at first that there is no dressing added to this until you eat it and realise that the glorious juices of the roasted cherry tomatoes are enough to give this dish the perfect amount of moisture and flavour, which is enhanced by the fact that the quinoa soaks all that flavour up. I doubled the recipe for a crowd and took home the leftovers - and I think it tasted even better two days later. 

Having read of Ottolenghi's skill when it comes to balancing flavours in a dish, I attempted to keep to the recipe as closely as possible, making only minor swops - coconut sugar for the brown sugar, white quinoa for the red and regular carrots instead of baby ones.

Roast carrots, tomatoes, quinoa and mint
Recipe (barely) adapted from: Ottolenghi

300g cherry tomatoes, halved
60ml olive oil
1 tsp coconut sugar
2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
Salt and black pepper
½ tsp cumin seeds
600g baby carrots, cut in half or quarters lengthways, so they’re 6-7cm long and 1cm wide (or regular carrots cut into batons)
40g white quinoa
10g coriander leaves, picked
10g mint leaves, picked

Heat the oven to 150C. Toss tomatoes with 30ml of olive oil, the coconut sugar, ginger, a quarter teaspoon of salt and a grind of pepper. Spread them cut side up on a lined tray and roast for an hour, then leave to cool. I added an extra sprinkle of salt as they were cooling.

Turn the oven up to 220C. Mix the cumin and carrots with the other 30ml of oilve oil, a half-teaspoon of salt and lots of pepper. Spread on an oven tray and roast for 20 minutes and allow to cool a little. 

Cook quinoa for 10 minutes in water. (Ottolenghi instructs you to drain, I just allowed the quinoa to absorb all the water.)

Mix the carrots, quinoa, tomatoes (making sure you scrape up all those juices), mint and coriander ,and serve.