Roasted-Vegetable Couscous

I'm not big into the sheet-pan dinner craze.  There's so much prep, I don't feel like it saves you any time.  However, I do like the flavor of roasted vegetables, especially red onion.  I decided to roast up a pan to have over couscous with chickpeas and miso-tahini dressing, because yum.  It also used up the last of the miso, which I think I bought shortly before the pandemic started.

This wasn't my Purim vegan meal, but it gladly could have been.  Just a drizzle of the dressing over the veggies was perfect and kept the chickpeas from tasting dry.  You can sub in any roasting vegetable you want.  I got asparagus because it was on sale and turnips because the parsnips were huge.  Then the first carrot I grabbed out of the stack was the largest I've ever seen in my life.  I wasn't about to put it back, but I only bought the one.

*1/2 C miso-tahini dressing
*1 C dry couscous
*3/4 C dry chickpeas or 1 15 oz can, drained
1 lb asparagus
2 medium red onions
2 medium carrots
2 small to medium turnips
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary

1.  If cooking the chickpeas from dry, soak for 8-12 hours.  Drain, refill saucepan, and simmer for about 2 hours.  Drain again.  For canned, open and rinse.

2.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Lining the baking sheet is optional, but it makes cleanup easier.

3.  Cut up the veggies and place in a large bowl:  For the asparagus, trim off the hard bottoms and cut to desired lengths.  For the onions, peel and coarsely chop; I did Frenched because it looks nicer on a sheet.  For carrots, peel, remove top and tip, and cut into batons of similar size to the asparagus.  For the turnips, peel and also cut into sticks similar in size to the other items.  Toss in the bowl with the oil.

4.  Spread out oiled veggies on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with the salt, thyme, and rosemary.  Bake until the carrots (the hardest veggies on the tray) are easily pierced by a fork, about 20-25 minutes.

5.  While the veggies are roasting, cook couscous according to package directions and mix up the miso dressing.

6.  To plate, spoon out a generous portion of couscous.  Top with a few spoonfuls of chickpeas, then a pile of veggies.  Drizzle top with dressing and serve hot.

Difficulty rating :)