Miso chicken and veggies

This lovely recipe consists of chicken smeared with a salty, umami mix of miso paste, honey, butter, and rice vinegar, and roasted with whatever veggies you have on hand. This time, I used broccoli and little red potatoes. It is such an easy, healthy, and delicious meal, it has become a regular at our dinner table. Or dinner bar to be more accurate, since we usually eat at our gorgeous live edge pecan bar.

You can buy the miso at a local Asian foods market or online if it’s not available at your usual grocery store. Try to get miso with live active cultures if you can. It’s hard to tell sometimes if it has live active cultures, but one can hope. Miso is made by fermenting soy beans and koji rice for over a year! Besides being scrumptious, it is good for your health and digestion.

Try making this dish with other kinds of veggies besides broccoli and potatoes. I’ve successfully used okra, green beans, zucchini, and butternut squash. Any vegetable that is good roasted will work here. You can also use boneless skinless chicken or really any kind of meat you enjoy, or even skip the meat altogether. Keep this tasty topping in mind for all your roasting experiments.
 
Have you ever tried miso paste? Share in the comments your suggested uses and types. If you want to learn more about miso paste, this article by Makiko Itoh of Just Hungry is a good place to start.

Miso chicken and veggies
Recipe by Hillary Huber, modified from a Sam Sifton recipe in the New York Times
 
Makes 2 large servings
 
2 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cup miso (any kind- the darker the color, the stronger the flavor)
1 tablespoon honey
½ tablespoon rice vinegar
Black pepper
1 pound chicken pieces, with bones and skin
2 pounds vegetables (I used 6 quartered small red potatoes and 2 heads of broccoli cut into bite sized pieces)
 
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Mix in a bowl the butter, miso, honey, vinegar, and a few grinds of black pepper. Put the chicken in the pan and smear all over with about 2/3 of the miso mixture. Surround the chicken with the vegetables. Dab the remaining miso mixture onto the vegetables. Tuck any broccoli leaves around the edges of the pan. Roast 30-40 minutes, or until the chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit and the vegetables are softened. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.