Eat Roast Butternut Squash & Beetroot Salad

It's Friday! And the weekend is wide open to us, unfortunately, the heavens also appear to be open to us. It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow, which potentially scuppers mine and Dan's outdoor weekend. In an attempt to butter Dan up into going out tomorrow (and because his train home was late by two hours!), I did the laundry, washed up the dishes that had crept onto the counter top and made dinner for when he got in. 

At the time of cooking Dan didn't know what time he was going to get in because his train had been cancelled because they couldn't find a driver (I am sorry to say the dark side of me laughed when he sent me that message) so I decided to make Roast Butternut Squash and Beetroot Salad.  

The beauty about this salad is that it is just as delicious cold as it is hot so you can make it a few hours in advance. In addition to this it's simple to throw together for a lot of people which combined with it being good to eat cold means it's perfect for a summer family BBQ. I love the caramel flavour the roast onion gives the butternut squash and beetroot in this dish, and this dressing is a compliment to the well-established love between beetroot and honey and mustard. The recipe given below is enough salad for two as a main, or four as a starter or side dish.

Roast Butternut Squash and Beetroot Salad

1/2 large butternut squash

4 large beetroots

1 white onion

100g rocket

2 tbsp thyme leaves

 4 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp wholegrain mustard

1 tsp honey

Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Peel the butternut squash half and cut it into 2 cm thick slices width ways, top and tail the beetroot and cut them into quarters, and slice the onion into large chunks. 

Step 2. Toss the butternut squash, beetroot and white onion together in 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp thyme leaves, and salt and pepper to taste on a large baking tray, then roast in the oven for 45 minutes. 

Step 3. While the vegetables are roasting put together the dressing. It's really simple, in a cup mix together 3 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar, 1/2 tsp wholegrain mustard and 1 tsp honey with salt and pepper to taste. This dressing is quite sharp so you might want to add a little more honey if it's not your thing (personally it's so good!). 

Step 4. After 45 minutes remove the vegetables from the oven and leave to cool if you're serving the salad cold. Hot or cold, go ahead and assemble the salad with the rocket and vegetables (the onions will have cooked down and be all sticky, don't forget to add them they make this dish!!), spooning over the dressing and sprinkling with thyme leaves. 

Step 5. Demolish the salad as shown below.