Creamy Herbed Grits Bowl with Leek Gravy and Roasted Root Veggies

This hearty and comforting Creamy Herbed Grits Bowl with Leek Gravy and Roasted Root Veggies is fragrant and appetizing with a melange of savory herbs. The leek gravy is creamy and coats your tongue with silky deliciousness and the root veggies are roasted in balsamic vinegar and mustard. A vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free recipe.

My office building in Gaithersburg, a fast-developing suburb in Maryland, was bordered by a strip of woods and every Spring, when I went for a walk after lunch, I’d look forward to seeing all kinds of wildlife scampering around in the trees. Occasionally I’d spot a dotted fawn with her mom, running around and playing on the slope, and it would be the highlight of my day.

But a few months back, all of that land, which did not belong to my employer, went through a drastic transformation. Almost overnight, the trees disappeared along with the deer and the squirrels and the bunnies and the birds. Goodness alone knows what happened to them. Instead, there was a flat, dry stretch of brown dirt and a dozen diggers and cranes sitting on it. Soon, no doubt, buildings will crop up with their inevitable accessories of parking lots, cars spewing exhaust, and everything else that goes with urban development, and more of us will move into spaces that never belonged to us in the first place.

It’s not just here in the United States that we are paving over paradise every single day. When I went to India a couple of years back, I wrote about how the few green or open spaces I knew growing up in Bombay had been stuffed with skyscrapers and shopping malls. There seemed to be no room to even breathe, leave alone play.

One of my favorite trips, while in Madras, was the drive to the ancient town of Mahabalipuram with its historic carved temple and rolling beach. Years ago, the one-hour trip was a refreshingly pleasant one. Once you’d left the dust and concrete of the city behind, the road was lined with green trees and vast stretches of land unoccupied except for a few villagers in their thatched-roof huts. Two years ago, on a visit back to India, we decided to visit Mahabalipuram again. The transformation was almost unbelievable and immensely disturbing: the city had swallowed all of the greenery, replacing it with buildings and amusement parks and shops.

If there is land we are not taking over with our buildings, we are infesting it — and the water — with our waste. National Geographic magazine’s latest Planet or Plastic issue is an evocative reminder of the havoc we are wreaking on the earth, and its innocent creatures. The photographs of birds wrapped in cling wrap, turtles trapped in fishing nets, and seahorses clinging to cotton swabs after mistaking them for sea grass will make your blood boil and hopefully serve as a reminder of how our daily conveniences are turning into eternal problems for our planet.

It is not practically possible to avoid creating any waste, but there are many things we can do to help the planet, and one of those is to become vegan, grow some of your own veggies and herbs when possible, and cook a lot of your food from scratch. Big bonus, you’ll find that while consuming less of the earth’s resources, you can actually consume more food! It’s a win-win if there ever was one.

And the food is totally delicious, like this Vegan Herbed Grits Bowl with Leek Gravy and Roasted Root Veggies.

Each of these elements that make up the grits bowl is delicious by itself. You could, for instance, serve the Leek Gravy over a tofu or tempeh steak, or mashed potatoes. And you could serve the balsamic roasted root veggies with any entree. And the bowl could be served for breakfast or lunch or dinner. The possibilities with this are endless.

I used quick cooking grits because I wanted to get this done fast. but if you’re a grit purist, or a self-respecting southerner, use the kind where it takes 20 minutes for the water to soak into your grits. Or you can just use magic grits!

On to the recipe now, and if you try it, be sure to let me know how it turns out for you!

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Creamy Herbed Grits Bowl with Leek Gravy and Roasted Root Veggies

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time30 mins

Total Time50 mins

Course: Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch/Dinner

Cuisine: gluten-free, nut-free, Soy-free, Vegan

Servings: 8 servings

Author: Vaishali Honawar

Ingredients

For the roasted root vegetables:

• 8 cups assorted root vegetables, cut into slivers about 1/2-inch thick and about an inch long (I used a mix of parsnip, carrots, sweet potatoes and yukon gold potatoes. Beets and turnips would work well too)
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (optional. If oil-free, add a couple of tablespoons of vegetable stock to the veggies before roasting)
• 2 tsp dry rosemary or sage or thyme, or a mix (I like using dry herbs while roasting veggies because they don't burn as easily as fresh herbs would. If using fresh herbs, soak them in the oil for a few minutes before adding to the veggies)
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

For the creamy herbed leek gravy:

• 2 leeks, white and light green parts only (trimmed, all of the dirt thoroughly washed off, then sliced thinly)
• 1 cup mushrooms, like button or crimini
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (for an oil-free version, use 1 tbsp of vegetable stock to saute)
• 2 tbsp rice flour (if not gluten-free, you can use unbleached all purpose flour)
• 4 tbsp fresh rosemary, sage or thyme, or a mix, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine (optional)
• 2 1/2 cups unsweetened nondairy milk (I used cashew milk, but if nut-free use hemp, rice, or soy milk)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 tbsp liquid aminos or soy sauce (optional, if you want to be soy-free)
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

For the grits:

• 1 1/2 cups quick cooking grits
• 6 cups vegetable stock or water
• 2 tsp dry rosemary, sage or thyme, or a mix
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Make the roasted root veggies:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Place the veggies in a bowl and toss with other ingredients until everything is evenly distributed.
• Spread the veggies on a baking sheet, in a single layer. You may need to use more than one sheet, depending on the size of the sheet and your oven.
• Roast the veggies for 20 minutes, stir once with a spatula, and continue roasting for another 20-30 minutes or until the veggies are lightly golden and crisp.

Make the leek mushroom gravy:

• Heat the oil or vegetable stock in a saucepan and add the leeks. Season with salt and pepper and saute until the leeks are partially cooked. 
• Add the mushrooms and saute until most of the water they express has evaporated. Add the white wine, if using, and cook until there's almost no moisture left.
• Add the rice flour and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to gather any bits that stick. Add the herbs, onion powder and garlic powder, stir to mix, and then the nondairy milk.
• Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-low heat, add the liquid aminos or soy sauce if using, mix, then turn the heat to the lowest setting and let the sauce simmer for five minutes until it has thickened. Stir frequently. Season with salt and pepper.

Make the grits:

• Bring the vegetable stock to a boil. Add salt and ground black pepper to taste and herbs. Slowly pour in the grits, stirring all the time with a whisk to prevent it from clumping.
• Turn the heat to low, cover, and let the grits cook five to seven minutes or until creamy but cooked.

Serve:

• To serve your bowls, place grits in a bowl, pour on some of the gravy, and top with root veggies.

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More tasty vegan dinners:

Roasted Cauliflower Couscous with Lentils and Mint

Leek Sourdough Bread Pudding

Speedy Brussels Sprouts Pasta with Olives