As the summer turns to fall I look forward to spending long days in my kitchen (often while Hubby is off playing hockey for the afternoon), cooking, baking, and making the house smell delicious when he returns home. There is something so inviting about the way the heat from the oven spills out of my kitchen, warming up the living and dining rooms, but somehow leaving the bedroom cool and fresh for sleeping. In truth, I am a summer fanatic… Too much cold, grey, slushy weather brings me down, but fall is that lovely balance between the two. This is a recipe I make on cold days at the cottage and in the fall at home. It’s light enough to still feel like you’re enjoying a summer dish but warm and hearty enough to keep you satisfied when there’s a chill in the air. I love the warm flavors that come from roasting vegetables slowly and find the addition of sumac (a dried, lemony spice) to the veggies a great pair to the lemon in the cous cous.

Sumac Roasted Vegetables with Lemon Cous Cous

I recommend you roast the veggies separately as they will require different cooking times. This is a bit of a hassle because you can’t just dump them all on one pan (you can if you want to!), but it’s worth it in the end.

Servings: 6

For the roasted vegetables:

1 butternut squash

2 medium carrots

½ sweet onion

1 red, orange or yellow sweet pepper

2 small zucchini

3 tbs. olive oil

1 tbs. sumac

1 tbs sea salt

fresh ground pepper to taste

For the cous cous:

1 cup whole wheat cous cous

1 cup no/low sodium veggie stock

juice and zest of 1 small lemon

1 tsp. salt

fresh ground pepper to taste

To garnish:

1/3 cup fresh roasted peanuts

chutney – something sweet and spicy, a traditional mango chutney works great with this dish

Preheat oven to 375F

Cut all veggies into a large dice – about 1cm square.

Season and bake in batches – squash and carrots together, peppers and onion together and zucchini by itself. Before baking toss veggies in 1 tbs. olive oil and 1/3 of the sumac, salt and pepper. Roast until tender and starting to brown – between 20 and 45 minutes depending on the veggie.

When all veggies are roasted, toss gently together and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Keep warm in an oven safe bowl (oven on low) until ready to eat.

Prepare cous cous.

Heat veggie stock with salt and pepper until just boiling. Remove from heat, add cous cous and cover for 5 minutes or until cous cous has cooked though.  Fluff with a fork and add lemon juice and zest.

Pour cous cous on a warm platter and make a well in the middle. Pour roasted veggie mix into the well and garnish with roasted peanuts. Enjoy with chutney on the side. Yum!

Adapted from a recipe from The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone.