Roasted Butternut Squash Salad, Pecans, Spinach, Feta with Maple Syrup Dressing
The idea of a dressing is to enhance the flavour of the food you are eating. The acid from the vinegar contrasts with the sugar, salt and oil to heighten the pleasure we get. Dressing hot, cooked vegetables is just as gratifying as dressing cold salad leaves, almost more so. In this salad, I've combined the sweet, nutty flavour of butternut squash, with sweet, buttery pecan nuts and salty, sharp feta cheese. The maple syrup dressing works really well at bringing the whole dish together and this recipe could easily make a lovely mid-week supper in it's own right.
1. Pre-heat your oven to 220°C 2. Peel and dice your butternut, place in a roasting tray and drizzle with rapeseed oil. Season with salt and pepper. 3. Roast in the oven for around 30 minutes, until the squash is tender. It's nice when it develops a little charring around the edges. 4. To make the dressing; in a bowl, crush the garlic, add in the salt, vinegars and maple syrup and slowly whisk in the oil. Keep tasting the dressing as you make it, a good dressing should be slightly salty with a nice sharp kick. 5. Once the squash has cooked, pour over the dressing, add in the spinach leaves, red chilli, feta and pecan nuts and gently mix.
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These noodles are delicious and cook really quick. Albeit that these are EGG noodles, they are made using duck egg, which means that for my wife who has an allergy to eggs she is not affect by these noodles. What more can I say…brilliant.
The linseeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and sunflower seeds are delicious and perfect for popping in the bread maker to perk up our toast! Cheaper and better packaging than the supermarkets too.
