This was one of those recipes where I had no idea what to expect. It was Friday night after work, I didn’t have the energy to go out so I decided to make use of our most recent CSA delivery. Did you know carrots come in colors other than orange? I didn’t. And this delivery blew. my. mind. And the beets were all crazy colored too! I love cooking things that look like a rainbow, and with this meal we definitely got our fair share of color.

I spent the time chopping the veggies on the phone with my bestest friend out in LA, and kind of just made things up as I went, not entirely paying attention to what I was up to. But let me tell you, this was one of my most favorite recipe surprises. R and I both went back for seconds and not only was it absolutely delicious, but healthy and gluten-free too!

What you’ll need:

• 1/2 medium butternut squash
• 6 small carrots
• 3 small beets
• 3 cups kale
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 TBS olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 1/2 TBS tahini
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 TBS water
• 1/4 tsp truffle salt
• dash fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 425. I started by washing and chopping all the veggies first. You’ll want to cut them down into bite-sized pieces but the shape is up to you. Put all the root veggies into a large bowl and top with one tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of pepper. Toss them around in the bowl until everything is coated. Place the veggies on a baking sheet and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until they are easily pierced with a fork.

Then start on the quinoa. Make sure to rinse the quinoa. I didn’t quite know why people did this, but once I started doing it I noticed it made the quinoa much easier on my stomach. Maybe that’s why you rinse it? I’m still not entirely sure – but just do it. Place one cup quinoa with two cups water or vegetable broth into a small saucepan. Add one minced clove of garlic. (I didn’t have veggie broth laying around so I added the garlic to give it a little more flavor). Bring the water to a boil, and then cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed.

In another pan set at medium heat, add one tablespoon of olive oil with the chopped onion and garlic and cook until the onion begins to get translucent. Add the kale to the pan and turn down the heat a bit. You just want to wilt the kale a little, not fry it.

While everything is cooking you can assemble the sauce. Add the tahini and water first. (I must note – in my quest for tahini recently, I picked up Trader Joe’s tahini “sauce” which is different from regular tahini. This already has garlic and lemon added. If you’re working with normal tahini, feel free to add a clove of garlic and some lemon juice). Add the vinegar and whisk together. Then add the truffle salt and make sure everything is well mixed.

I was lucky that everything finished cooking at the exact same time (it really was a miracle, this never happens to me!) Add the quinoa, veggies and kale to a bowl and top with truffle tahini sauce. Stir it up and enjoy!