Roasted Delicata Squash with leafy greens, and roasted creamy goat cheese make a delicious and beautiful fall dish for a weeknight salad or a holiday appetizer.
The star of the salad is the delicata squash, a beautiful, flavorful winter squash that you can eat, without peeling off the rind, yes you can eat the entire squash. It’s sweet flavor is enhanced by roasting it in the oven.
This squash is also really good for you. Winter squashes, like the delicata squash have more fiber than summer squashes, they have tons of vitamin A carotenoids like beta-carotene and they also contain B vitamins such as folate as well as vitamins C and K.
Key Ingredients in This Recipe
You’ll find the complete list of ingredients and exact quantities in the recipe below.
- Delicata squash – if you cannot find this one, you could use a butternut squash or an acorn squash. This latter one is also a small squash and may fit better in a meal planning for a family of two.
- Mixed lettuce – in general any type of lettuce will do here. Mixed lettuce will give you a mixture of textures and shapes that do well, visibly, in a salad.
- Blanched almonds – if you cannot find blanched/peeled almonds, check out this post and learn how to do it yourself.
- Goat cheese – a log is easiest to work with as we need to roast the cheese. You can us a plain goat cheese log, like I did, but they also come in flavor varieties. There is goat cheese rolled in herbs or pepper, with honey etc. This could add a color dimension to your salad.
- Breadcrumbs
- Thyme
- Dressing – olive oil, white wine vinegar or lemon juice, honey, mustard
If you like to make this into a meal salad, add some kind of a carbohydrate, like quinoa, farro, bulgur wheat.
How to Make Delicata Squash Salad with Roasted Goat Cheese
Step 1 – Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Wash and dry the delicata squash, cut off the ends and cut the squash in half, lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds and pulp. Slice one half into 1/4 inch wide half moons. Store the other half for another recipe.
Transfer olive oil, thyme leaves, salt & pepper to a bowl, add the squash and coat well. Place squash on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place blanched almonds on same baking sheet.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until squash is done (depends on thickness of slices). Take almonds out of the oven in about 10-15 minutes and sprinkle with salt (optional).
Step 2 – Slice the goat cheese log in four equal slices. Coat the slices with olive oil and then transfer to a plate with breadcrumbs and salt. Coat all sides of goat cheese rounds.
Place goat cheese in a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Place dish in the fridge until needed. When the rounds are cold before we roast them, they will keep their shape.
Step 3 – Make the dressing by mixing olive oil, white wine vinegar, mustard, honey, salt & pepper.
Place mixed lettuce in a bowl, divide delicata squash over greens, sprinkle with almonds and drizzle with dressing.
Place warm goat cheese rounds on top of salad and drizzle with remaining dressing.
Enjoy the Delicata Squash Salad with Roasted Goat Cheese.
Other Recipe to Try
Delicata Squash Salad with Roasted Goat Cheese
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound delicata squash
- 4 ounces mixed lettuce
- 2 ounces goat cheese (NOTE 1)
- 1/4 cup almonds (NOTE 2) blanched
- 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1.5 tablespoon breadcrumbs
- thyme
- salt & pepper
Dressing
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- salt & pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Wash and dry the delicata squash, cut off the ends and cut the squash in half, lengthwise. Scrape out the seeds and pulp. Slice one half into 1/4 inch wide half moons. Store the other half for another recipe.
- Transfer olive oil, thyme leaves, salt & pepper to a bowl, add the squash and coat squash. Place squash on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and place blanched almonds on same baking sheet.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until squash is done (depends on thickness of slices). Take almonds out of the oven in about 10-15 minutes and sprinkle with salt (optional).
- Slice the goat cheese log in 4 equal slices. Coat the slices with olive oil and then transfer to a plate with breadcrumbs and salt. Coat all sides of goat cheese rounds.
- Place goat cheese in a baking dish lined with parchment paper. Place dish in the fridge until needed. When the rounds are cold before we roast them, they will keep their shape.
- Make the dressing by mixing olive oil, white wine vinegar, mustard, honey, salt & pepper.
- Place mixed lettuce in a bowl, divide delicata squash over greens, sprinkle with almonds and drizzle with dressing.
- Place warm goat cheese rounds on top of salad and drizzle with remaining dressing.
- Serve and ENJOY !
Notes
- You can us a plain goat cheese log, but they also come in flavor varieties, like rolled in herbs or pepper, with honey etc. This could add a color dimension to your salad.
- If you need/want to blanch the almonds yourself, check out this post.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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