Having a jar of tahini dressing in your fridge is something to feel pretty smug about. This dressing can elevate roasted root vegetables and blanched greens to an Ottolenghi-esque salad that you’ll want to eat again and again.

Preparing the dressing is a matter of finding a jar with a lid, a couple of ingredients and a few minutes of shaking the jar up and down (hence why the lid is important). The dressing will keep in the fridge for about a week – given the opportunity that is. It hasn’t had such an opportunity for long-term living in my fridge: it’s far too delicious.

The tahini dressing pairs really well with the sweet earthiness of roasted pumpkin and the just-cooked bright green Brussels sprouts add a robust freshness (but you could also use savoy cabbage or cavolo nero). Roasted pumpkin & Brussels sprouts with tahini dressing makes a perfect lunch topped with a fried egg or have it for dinner with some pan-fried fish or chargrilled salmon on the side.

Roasted pumpkin & Brussels sprouts with tahini

dressing

Dressing by Anna Jones, A Modern Way to Eat.

For the veges:

1/4 of a large crown pumpkin

a red onion

500g Brussels sprouts

Preheat oven to 200°C. Scoop the seeds out of the pumpkin and cut the skin off. Slice the pumpkin into 2-3cm pieces and place the pumpkin on a flat baking tray.  Cut the red onion in half and into thick slices and add to the tray. Drizzle the cut vegetables with oil and season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven until soft and golden.

Cut the ends of the Brussels sprouts and slice each one into 4-5 slices. Place into a steamer and cook until just tender, or alternatively blanch in a large pot of boiling water and drain in a colander.

For the dressing:

2 tablespoons tahini

juice of a lemon

1 teaspoon maple syrup or brown sugar

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 – 3 tablespoons boiling water

pinch of sea salt 

freshly ground black pepper

Put all dressing ingredients into a jam jar and shake it up.  Add 1 tablespoon of boiling water and shake the jar – if the dressing is still really thick add more water until you get it to a pour-able consistency.

Putting it all together:

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted in a dry frying pan until they start to ‘pop’

Place the cooked pumpkin and Brussels sprouts into a serving dish and pour over as much of the dressing as you fancy. Sprinkle over the toasted pumpkin seeds.