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Roasted Carrot and Potato, Lentils and Miso Parsley Sauce

Roasted carrots and potatoes tossed with lentils and a lemony parsley sauce with miso. A hearty winter meal that is both vegan and gluten free.

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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,053 recipes mention both. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

The recipe

4 to 6
Prep15 min
Cook35 min

Ingredients

Contains: soy (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Halve or quarter the potatoes so they are roughly the same size as the carrot pieces. Toss the potatoes and carrots with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper, spread on a baking sheet and roast for 25 minutes, turning once, until tender and browned at the edges.

  2. While the vegetables roast, put the lentils, vegetable broth or water and bay leaf (if using) in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 to 25 minutes until the lentils are tender but hold their shape. Drain any extra liquid and discard the bay leaf.

  3. To make the sauce, put the parsley, garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice, miso, red pepper flakes and 3 to 4 tablespoons olive oil in a food processor or blender. Blend until finely chopped and smooth, adding a splash of water to loosen if needed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  4. Transfer the roasted vegetables and lentils to a large bowl. Add about half the parsley sauce and gently toss to combine. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.

  5. Spoon the remaining sauce over the top and serve warm.

By cookieandkate. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,036 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Olive + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together23,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Potato + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,105 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Potato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together4,512 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, carrot, olive, lentils, parsley, garlic, miso):

  1. Limeabout as good a flavor fit
  2. Avocadoabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, carrot, olive, lentils, parsley, garlic, miso. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).