Butternut Squash & Pear Salad with Pear-Ginger Dressing
Simple, nourishing and incredibly tasty Butternut Squash and Pear Salad with the creamiest, most delicious Pear Ginger dressing. A crowd-pleasing salad that also happens to be loaded with goodness!
Ingredients
SALAD:
- ⅓ cup walnuts
- 3 Tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 3 cups butternut squash, chopped into bite size pieces – measured after chopping
- 1 small/medium red onion, chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 small pears, chopped into bite size pieces
- 5 cups greens, I like a mixture of arugula, mizuna and spinach
- 3 Tbsp golden raisins
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
PEAR GINGER DRESSING:
- 1 small pear skin removed, then roughly chopped
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 big Medjool date or 2 – 3 Deglet Noor dates, pitted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F / 180 °C. Place walnuts and pumpkin seeds on a baking sheet (no oil) and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes, until golden and fragrant. Remove and let cool, then roughly chop the walnuts.
- Place the butternut squash and onion on a baking sheet, add olive oil and a big pinch of sea salt and toss with a spoon until the vegetables are evenly coated. Then arrange them in a single layer.
- Bake for 10 minutes, toss again to make sure the vegetables are roasted even and bake for an extra 10 – 15 minutes. Until they are tender and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- While the squash is in the oven, make the dressing. Add all the dressing ingredients to a high-speed blender: pear, olive oil, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, ginger and date. Blend until smooth and creamy, this might take 2 - 3 minutes.
- Assemble the salad. Arrange the greens on a big platter. Top with the roasted vegetables, pear, nuts, seeds and golden raisins. Drizzle with a little dressing and serve it with more dressing on the side (see pictures). You could also add all the salad ingredients and the dressing to a big bowl and toss them until combined, but it won’t be as pretty.
- Enjoy!