Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, miso, maple syrup, and mustard until combined.
Place all of the Brussels sprouts on the lined baking sheet and pour the miso and mustard mixture over top. Season with salt and pepper and toss the sprouts to coat evenly in the mixture.
Slide the baking sheet into the oven. Roast the Brussels sprouts for 20 minutes or until tender and deep golden brown on the edges. Keep warm.
Butternut Orzo Risotto
While the Brussels sprouts are roasting, make the creamy butternut orzo. First, make the butternut cream. In an upright blender, combine the non-dairy creamer, butternut squash, and nutritional yeast. Blend this mixture on high until completely smooth. Set aside.
Place a deep skillet or braiser-style pot over medium heat. Once it's hot, pour in the olive oil. Add the shallot to the pot and stir. Cook shallots until softened and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, thyme, chili flakes (if using), and smoked paprika. Stir and cook until the garlic is quite fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the orzo pasta and stir to coat in the spices and shallots. Season the mixture liberally with salt and pepper.
Add the vegetable stock to the pot and stir. Bring the orzo to a boil and then simmer, uncovered, until orzo is soft, about 8 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pot often. The orzo will want to stick to the bottom of the pot! Just keep stirring and adding more vegetable stock if necessary. You want to keep the consistency nice and fluid.
Once the orzo is soft and the mixture is starting to get creamy, add the butternut cream to the pot and stir to combine. Bring the orzo back up to a simmer. Add the lemon juice to the creamy butternut orzo and stir. Check the dish for seasoning and adjust if necessary (more salt, chili, lemon etc). Stir in the chopped parsley and top with the roasted Brussels sprouts. Serve immediately!
Equipment
Blender
Recipe Notes
I like to cook a halved squash in the a 400 oven for about 45 minutes, or until tender. Then I scoop out all the flesh and use it in soups, baking, recipes like this, etc! You could also use a heaped cup of roasted squash cubes.
This recipe may behave differently with a gluten-free orzo or other tiny pasta. Regular wheat-based pasta lets off a creamy starch. If you’re using GF pasta, I’d start with only 1 ½ cups of the vegetable stock and add more as it cooks if necessary. I have heard that DeLallo’s GF orzo is great!
For a quick non-dairy “cream” to use here, blend 1/4 cup raw cashews with 1/3 cup water in a high speed blender until smooth. I also sometimes use store bought unsweetened cashew or oat milk.
After receiving some reader feedback, I'd like to add this note about cooking smaller Brussels sprouts. Roast them plain with just olive oil, salt and pepper for the first 15 minutes, then toss with the miso-mustard glaze and roast for another 5-10 minutes. The glaze contains maple syrup and miso which caramelize quickly. This two-stage method prevents burning with smaller sprouts.
Blended butternut squash cream stirred into vegan risotto-style orzo, topped with sticky miso, maple, and mustard Brussels sprouts. One pot plus one baking sheet, ready in about 1 hour.