Fall Salads: The Autumn Harvest on Display

As part of a meal I cooked for my mother, who's visiting from New York, I put together this sald. I based it around some ingredients I had on hand - roasted butternut squash, a ripe pomegranate, and Marcona almonds-- the sweet, heart-shaped Spanish variety of almond that is fried lightly in olive oil and sea salt. I bought the almonds at Piedmont Grocery, but discovered today that you can find them in tins at a very reasonable price at Costco. This salad was a side dish for grilled chicken breasts but cended up as the star of the meal, with the meat nothing but a footnote. Since it was a meat-based meal, for reasons of kashrut I didn't add goat cheese - But if you're not kosher, or are not eating it with meat, I think goat cheese (soft or feta, crumbled) would be a perfect touch. This was one of my favorite salads, with perfectly complementary textures and flavors along with vivid fall colors.

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH, MARCONA ALMOND AND POMEGRANATE SALAD

4 cups mixed salad greens
Seeds of 1/2 pomegranate
1 cup Spice-Roasted Butternut Squash or other roasted squash cubes
1/3 cup Marcona almonds
Crumbled goat cheese (optional)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Combine vinegar, olive oil, honey, mustard and black pepper in a jar. Shake thoroughly to combine. Add just enough dressing to the salad greens to coat the leaves very lightly. Add squash and pomegranate seeds. Toss gently. Sprinkle marcona almonds and goat cheese (optional) on salad just before serving. Makes 3-4 servings.

Note: A tutorial for removing the seeds of a pomegranate can be found here.

This recipe is part of the upcoming Fall Salads Event at My Life As a Reluctant Housewife.