Salads are definitely not just for warm, Summer months! Take advantage of all the wonderful root vegetables on offer and roast them with lots of salt and rosemary to bring out their sweet, caramelised flavour. I love using wintery salad leaves like kale and Cavolo Nero with rich, robust flavours. This is a wonderfully earthy, nutritious salad with lots of layers of flavour. Scatter with salty feta, sweet bursts of pomegranate seeds and my favourite salad topper - crunchy candied nuts! Tied together with a very simple and light lemon dressing. Enjoy warm or cold.
Total time to make : 50 minutes
Time to roast : 40 minutes
Servings : 4 - 6
Ingredients
Vegetables
2 carrots
3 parsnips
1kg baby potatoes
3 tbsp olive oil
6 sprigs rosemary
Salt, to season
Candied nuts
80g pecans, roughly chopped
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp light brown sugar
Pinch salt
Dressing
4 tbsp olive oil*
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
Salad
4 large handfuls of leafy greens; I love kale, Cavolo Nero, swiss chard, radicchio (see notes)
100g feta cheese
4 tbsp pomegranate seeds
Herbs such as parsley, to garnish
Salt and pepper, to garnish
Method
Preheat a fan oven to 200C.
Chop all your vegetables into similar sized chunks - this will help them roast evenly. Mix them all in a large bowl with the olive oil, rosemary and salt. Scatter between two large roasting tins and roast in the oven for 40 minutes until tender when pricked with a fork and starting to crisp on the outside
For the candied nuts, tear off a sheet of baking paper and set to one side. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat. Add in the nuts and dry-fry for 2 - 3 minutes until they just begin to toast, being careful not to burn them. Remove from the heat and then working quickly, add in the butter and brown sugar and melt together, then tip onto the baking paper. Sprinkle with salt and leave to cool
Prepare the dressing by whisking everything up in small mug or bowl
If you're using thicker greens (kale, swiss chard etc.) then massage these in a large bowl with 1 tbsp olive oil and salt (see notes) and leave to soften. If you're using lighter leaves (lettuce, spinach, rocket) these don't need prepared. Pile them onto your serving plate
To assemble, layer the salad leaves on the bottom, scatter the roasted vegetables on top, crumble over the candies pecans, then top with the feta, pomegranate seeds and any fresh herbs. Drizzle over the dressing - or have on the side to serve - and enjoy!
Nutritional Information
(for 4 large portions with dressing)
650 calories
10g protein, 70g carbs, 40g fat
Good to know:
Rather than just drizzling olive oil over the veggies before roasting them, tossing all the vegetables in a bowl with the oil and seasoning really does make a huge difference in evenly coating them!
Thicker 'wintery' salad leaves such as kale and Cavolo Nero can be much tougher and more bitter to taste - if you've never 'massaged' them before - then you'll never eat them the same way again! Make sure you remove any tough stalks of the leaves and place in a large bowl. Use 1 tbsp of olive oil and a large pinch of salt for 4 large handfuls and use clean hands to coat, rub and massage this into the leaves for a couple of minutes. They'll soften considerably and be absolutely delicious. If you do this, remove 1 tbsp of olive oil from the dressing
Will keep really well for up to 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container. Roasted vegetables will keep for up to 5 days.
Vegetarian, GF
For Vegan, skip the feta, use dry-toasted nuts and use maple syrup in the dressing