This roasted vegetable salad with a tahini dressing is hearty, delicious and nutritionally balanced. It is gluten free, dairy free, nut free, egg free, plant based & vegan.
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Autumn Roasted Vegetable Salad
There is something about creating a delicious salad that fills me with so much joy. Salads are definitely one of my favourite things to create in the kitchen. They are a way to celebrate the seasons by using the produce that is available. This autumn salad recipe hero's vegetables like pumpkin, squash and beetroot alongside seasonal leafy greens.
In the cooler months, our digestion often needs a little extra help and nourishment. Eating vegetables that have been slow cooked or roasted provides our bodies with spleen nourishing and easy to digest nutrients.
How to Make the Perfect Salad
After many years of throwing together salads, I've mastered the formula for the perfect salad. Create your own banging salad that ticks all of the boxes, follow my method:
- Choose your leafy greens. These are your base and are highly nutritious. Use kale, any kind of lettuce, baby spinach, endive or rocket.
- Pick a protein. Protein is an essential nutrient and helps to make a salad more filling. Choose from lentils, chickpeas, crispy salt & pepper tofu, nuts and seeds, cooked chicken breast or any other kind of cooked animal protein.
- Add complex carbohydrates. Foods rich in complex carbohydrates are root vegetables (beetroot, sweet potato, potato, parsnip, carrots), pumpkin/squash, quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice and legumes.
- Add flavour. Anything like olives, sun-dried tomatoes, capers, feta or cashew cheese that give that really delicious, salty taste to your salad.
- Choose your crunch factor. Every great salad needs something crunchy to give it that perfect mix of textures. Use toasted seeds or nuts, roasted chickpeas or homemade croutons.
- Make a homemade dressing. Use a tahini dressing like in this recipe or create your own using your choice of oil, fat and acid.
How to Make Tahini Dressing
Tahini dressing is SO flavoursome and full of amazing nutrients like healthy fats, protein and calcium. Did you know that adding a salad dressing not only adds flavour to your salad but also helps you to break down AND absorb the nutrients from your salad? So cool right?!
Making a tahini dressing is easy. You will need:
- tahini
- extra virgin olive oil
- salt
- lemon juice
- honey
- garlic (optional)
Just mix together all of your ingredients and BAM, dressing made!
Loved this Roasted Vegetable Salad? Try these:
Equipment
- Chopping Board
- Sharp knife
- Jar
- Measuring Cups & Spoons
- Baking trays
- peeler
Ingredients
- olive oil extra virgin
- 800 grams japanese pumpkin or 600g with skin removed
- 500 grams beetroot or 3 medium sized
- 250 grams yellow squash 4-5 medium sized
- ¼ cup pepitas
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
Tahini Dressing
- 1 tablespoon tahini hulled
- 1 teaspoon raw honey
- pinch sea salt
- 80 mL extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small garlic clove minced, optional
- 1 lemon lemon juiced
Assembly
- 150 grams fancy lettuce
- ½ cup green olives
- 400 gram tinned lentils strained and rinsed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
- Prepare pumpkin by removing skin and seeds and then dicing. Transfer to a baking dish, drizzle in olive oil and toss to coat evenly.800 grams japanese pumpkin, olive oil
- Remove tops and bottoms from beetroot and then peel and cut into wedges. Transfer to a seperate baking dish, drizzle in olive oil and toss to coat evenly.500 grams beetroot, olive oil
- Remove tops and bottoms from squash and slice into .5cm thick pieces. Transfer to a seperate baking dish, drizzle in olive oil and toss to coat evenly.250 grams yellow squash, olive oil
- Add squash, beetroot and pumpkin trays to oven and bake for 55 minutes.
- Meanwhile add pepitas and sunflower seeds to a baking tray and place in oven for 25 minutes.¼ cup pepitas, ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- While the vegetables and seeds are roasting, prepare the dressing. Add tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, honey, pinch of salt and garlic to a small jar. Shake vigorously to combine.1 tablespoon tahini, 1 teaspoon raw honey, pinch sea salt, 80 mL extra virgin olive oil, 1 small garlic clove, 1 lemon lemon
- Once vegetables are roasted and can be easily pierced with a fork, remove from the oven.
- To assemble add lettuce leaves to a large salad bowl. Top with roasted vegetables, lentils, olives, seeds and dressing and toss to combine.150 grams fancy lettuce, 400 gram tinned lentils, ½ cup green olives
Notes
Nutrition
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