Thomasina Miers’ recipe for roast winter vegetables with walnut and pomegranate sauce | Middle Eastern food and drink (2024)

Those jewelled seeds play a vital role in numerous Iranian dishes, but it’s hard to think of a more enticing example than fesenjan. The full-bodied sauce is perfect for dull, chilly days when you want to forget the outdoors exists and fill yourself with food that warms both body and mind before you have to venture out.

Roast winter vegetables with walnut and pomegranate sauce

The spiced sauce pairs beautifully with winter veg, though fesenjan is traditionally eaten with poultry, making it ideal for that leftover turkey in a week’s time. Serves four to six.

200g walnuts
1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
1 large floury potato, peeled and cut into 4cm chunks
½ celeriac, cut into 4cm chunks
400g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 large white onion (or 2 small ones), peeled and finely chopped
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp turmeric
A little grated nutmeg
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
300ml pomegranate juice
2 tbsp honey
500ml vegetable stock (or water)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice

Heat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5 and spread out the walnuts on an oven tray. Toast for seven minutes, until golden, then set aside to cool. Turn up the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. When the nuts are cool, blitz them in a food processor to the texture of fine breadcrumbs.

Put the potatoes, celeriac and sprouts on a large oven tray, add the thyme, season and toss with three tablespoons of oil. Spread out evenly, then roast for 20-25 minutes, until golden and crisp around the edges.

Put three or four tablespoons of warmed sauce in the base of shallow bowls and top with a pile of roast veg. Add a dollop or two of yoghurt, sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and roughly chopped mint, and serve with rice, preferably scented with a little saffron.

And for the rest of the week…

Make extra sauce and use up the leftovers by mixing in cooked fava or butter beans and serving on buttered sourdough toast – a cut above the usual beans on toast (keep it local by trying Hodmedod’s inspiring range of British-grown pulses). The sauce also makes a wonderful topping for chargrilled hispi cabbage (steam or blanch the cabbage for four or five minutes, so it’s tender before grilling). Traditionally, fesenjan is mixed up in a stew, but I prefer to serve it separately, so you can see the shapes and colours of the vegetables – experiment with your favourite ones in season.