Roast butternut squash, chicory and goat’s cheese salad

Serves 2 ● Prep Time 10 Mins ● Cooking Time 30 Mins
This salad is not a traditional combination of lettuce but rather it uses sweet butternut squash alongside mild and bitter chicory leaves, soft goat’s cheese and crunchy walnuts. Apple cyder vinegar with honey adds acidity and sweetness and complementing the punchy combination of flavours. Nutritionally it’s ticking many boxes but boring it isn’t!
method

1 small butternut squash, peeled, halved, the seeds scooped out then sliced

3 cloves of garlic

leaves from a sprig of rosemary, finely chopped

80g of walnuts 

2x bulbs of red chicory, separated into leaves 

120g of goat’s cheese 

2 tablespoons of chopped chives 

3 tablespoons of apple cyder vinegar with honey

extra virgin olive oil for drizzling 

Cold pressed rapeseed oil for roasting 

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning 

  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
  2. Put the sliced butternut squash on a roasting tray, drizzle with rapeseed oil, sprinkle over the rosemary, throw in the unpeeled garlic cloves, season generously with sea salt and black pepper, stir well to combine and roast in the oven for 30 minutes until fully cooked and soft. Tip the walnuts on top for the last 10 minutes of roasting time. This will give them more flavour and crunch. Set aside to cool slightly (or completely). 
  3. To serve, put half of the butternut squash slices, walnuts and chicory leaves on a plate. 
  4. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil and around 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of cyder vinegar with honey. Top with half of the goat’s cheese and chives. 
  5. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to create the second plate of food.
ingredients

1 small butternut squash, peeled, halved, the seeds scooped out then sliced

3 cloves of garlic

leaves from a sprig of rosemary, finely chopped

80g of walnuts 

2x bulbs of red chicory, separated into leaves 

120g of goat’s cheese 

2 tablespoons of chopped chives 

3 tablespoons of apple cyder vinegar with honey

extra virgin olive oil for drizzling 

Cold pressed rapeseed oil for roasting 

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning 

method
  1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
  2. Put the sliced butternut squash on a roasting tray, drizzle with rapeseed oil, sprinkle over the rosemary, throw in the unpeeled garlic cloves, season generously with sea salt and black pepper, stir well to combine and roast in the oven for 30 minutes until fully cooked and soft. Tip the walnuts on top for the last 10 minutes of roasting time. This will give them more flavour and crunch. Set aside to cool slightly (or completely). 
  3. To serve, put half of the butternut squash slices, walnuts and chicory leaves on a plate. 
  4. Drizzle generously with extra virgin olive oil and around 1.5 to 2 tablespoons of cyder vinegar with honey. Top with half of the goat’s cheese and chives. 
  5. Repeat with the remaining ingredients to create the second plate of food.