Miso Butter Brown Rice Bowl

Get the rice boiling asap if you’re using brown rice. Combine the water, rice and salt in a pot with a fitted lid. Cover the pot and set over high heat, bring it to a boil. As soon as its boiling, remove the cover and stir. Boil uncovered for 5 minutes to reduce the water down, then turn the heat to low and cover. Steam rice like this for 25 minutes. Boiling it hard for a few minutes kickstarts the cooking and shaves a bit of time off the total cooking.

Get out 2 rimmed baking sheets and line them with silicone mats or parchment (foil will do in a pinch but isn’t preferred since the miso could stick. If you have those gold “non-stick” pans, this is a great use for them unlined).

Trim the very bottom of the cauliflower stem off, it’s usually dry. Then slice through the head into 2” wide planks. Then turn and dice into 2” squares. Use the stems and the leaves. Add the florets to the pan and look for the stem pieces from the center - cut them in half again so they’re smaller than the florets.

Wash and dice the pepper into 1” cubes.

Halve the brussels sprouts.

Using a fork, mash the miso and butter together in a bowl until evenly combined. If your butter is coming straight from the fridge, microwave it in 10 second bursts until it’s pliable, or pop it in the preheating oven as needed. If some melts, that’s fine.

Reserve about 1 teaspoon of the mixture and evenly toss the rest with the veggies, using your fingers to evenly coat.

Put the sheet pans in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes.

Chop the broccoli into florets and dice the stems into ¾” cubes. Peel the shallot and slice into ¼” thin rounds or half-moons.

Toss the broccoli and shallot with the reserved teaspoon of miso-butter.

After the sheet pans have baked for 10 minutes, add the broccoli and rotate the pans from top to bottom.

Bake the pans with all of the vegetables for another 20 minutes, checking oven to stir a couple of times. They’re done when everything is tender and caramelized. If during this time you feel like anything is getting charred or too brown, turn down your oven to 375 or 350 (most ovens don’t maintain even temperature or are just off. You don’t want to burn everything and miso will burn).

When everything is done, toss the 2 sheet pan’s contents together.

Scoop hot rice into big bowls and top with generous scoops of veggies. Drizzle with soy sauce, if desired, or hot sauce. A bottled Asian-style BBQ sauce is great too - like gochujang, a small bit of hoisin, or even a spicy kewpie mayo. Garnish with pepitas and sesame seeds.