What's your favorite squash? I have always loved butternut in salads or frittatas, spaghetti squash for a base of a hearty meal and acorn squash to roast whole and stuff with protein. This Fall, I started loving delicata squash as it seems to have been popping up in dishes everywhere. The flavor is less sweet than butternut squash and I kind of like that for doing a fruit/squash salad so that it compliments the fruit, which in this case is pear. Adding a creamy element like a cheese or nut cheese is where I would usually go with a salad like this, but in this recipe, I decided to make a yogurt dressing from my favorite coconut yogurt. This is a great dish to bring along for holiday meals because besides the dressing, it can stay in the car, sitting on a counter at room temp until the meal is served.
Yogurt dressing adds just the right amount of creaminess to the salad
Ingredients:
1 large delicata squash (or container of pre-chopped)
1 large bunch tuscan kale
1 cup raw pecan pieces
2 tbsp yogurt (I use coconut- you can use real yogurt if you prefer)
1 pear
1 lemon
cooking oil of choice (I use avocado oil)
salt/pepper
Method:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees wile you slice open, deseed and chop up the squash. Leave the skin on- it will soften when it cooks.
Spread the squash pieces in a single layer onto a baking sheet and toss in oil, salt and pepper
Roast in the oven until fork tender and browned on either side- flip with a spatula around 20 minutes in
Thinly slice the pear- depending how thin you slice it, you may only use part of it
Wash, destem and tear up the kale
Combine the yogurt with the juice of the lemon. Whisk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whisk. You may need to add more yogurt if it is too thin. You may want to add a little honey if you use regular yogurt that is unsweetened since the coconut has some natural sweetness.
Once the squash is fork tender and done roasted, toss all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Wait to add the dressing until you serve.