Warm Butternut Squash, Beet and Goat Cheese Salad
It is a tricky task to pull off melding warm ingredients with cool salad greens and have it not end up a pile of lukewarm soggy lettuce. This Warm Butternut Squash & Beetroot Salad with Goat Cheese brings together crisp bites of lettuce with warm, creamy bits of mild goat cheese, tender roasted beets and golden browned squash. A lemony light dressing spiked with turmeric and a sprinkle of pumpkin seeds round out this awesome salad. Serve it with a side of grilled chicken breast marinated with a bit of the dressing.
Warm Butternut Squash & Beetroot Salad with Goat Cheese
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 4 servings
A mild soft goat cheese works well here. Roast the garlic for the dressing with the beets. Use dressing sparingly to keep the flavor of the roasted veg dominant. This is great cold as well.
Ingredients
- 4 large Beetroot, ends trimmed, scrubbed clean
- 1 large Butternut Squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch chunks
- 8 cups mixed Lettuce: Butter Lettuce, Pea Shoots, Baby Spinach and other tender greens
- small container soft mild Goat Cheese
- 1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds, toasted in a dry pan
- Lemon & Turmeric Salad Splash
- 3 cloves Roasted Garlic
- 1 Shallot, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon Turmeric
- juice of 1 Lemon
- juice of 1/2 Orange
- 1/4 cup White Wine Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
- 1/2 cup Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon Dijon or Grainy Mustard
- splash of Maple Syrup or Honey
- Ground Pepper and Sea Salt
Instructions
- Dressing
- Whisk or shake all ingredients together well, adjust seasoning as needed.
- Salad
- Heat oven to 375For 185C
- Wrap the Beetroot in individual squares of foil
- Wrap one or two heads of Garlic in foil (reserve unused garlic)
- Place on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven 30-40 minutes until tender, cool until you can handle them
- Glaze the cookie sheet with Olive Oil and return to the oven until hot, 3-4 minutes
- Toss on the Butternut Squash and sprinkle with a bit of Sea Salt and Ground Pepper
- Turn the oven up to 400f or 200c and roast for 25-30 minutes, stirring half way through
- About 10 minutes before the Squash is done, put the Goat Cheese on a foil lined tray and pop into the oven
- Arrange the Salad Leaves on individual shallow bowls
- Use the foil to rub the skin off the beets and dice into 1 inch cubes
- Distribute the Squash and Beetroot evenly over the greens, spoon a few small spoonfuls of the warm Goat Cheese around the salads
- Splash a conservative amount of dressing over the salad and sprinkle with the toasted Pumpkin Seeds
- Serve immediately
Leave a Reply