This salad is simply a celebration of winter produce.
Gorgeously earthy beetroot and golden sweet potato (or pumpkin!) are roasted to perfection to bring out their natural sweetness. They are then tossed with some baby spinach and rocket leaves for a decent dose of dark green goodness, followed by a dotting of creamy and tangy goat cheese…because, well, CHEESE.
A drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of flaky sea salt and a good squeeze of fresh, ruby-hued blood orange juice is the perfect sweet and fruity dressing for this salad. Finally, a tumble of vibrantly green pistachios crowns this winter medley, adding the perfect toasty crunch.
I was feeling all blah and droopy last week, and I instantly felt better after eating this colourful, nourishing, vitamin-packed salad. My kinda multi-vitamin.
That’s it for today folks!
Enjoy x
Roast Winter Veg Salad with Blood Orange & Goat Cheese
Ingredients
- 3-4 medium beetroot
- 1 large sweet potatoes OR half a small pumpkin
- olive oil
- 2 tbsp ground paprika
- salt to taste
- 4 cups baby spinach & rocket leaves
- 120 g goats cheese
- 120 g shelled unsalted pistachios toasted (whole or roughly chopped)
- 1-2 blood oranges or regular oranges
- 1 lemon optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375F)
- Wash beetroots and leave whole with skin on, trim stems if they are too long. Wrap each beetroot individually in foil, place on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes, until soft. Check one after about 40 minutes by unwrapping it and piercing with a sharp knife, it should pierce easily without resistance. If it is still hard, re-wrap and return to oven for a further 10-15min. Once they are cooked, remove from oven and unwrap and leave them too cool until you can handle them easily. Peel while they are still warm and slice into wedges or cubes.
- Wash the sweet potato and scrub skin clean. Cut into cubes (about 3cm large), leaving skin on. If using pumpkin, follow same instructions, but peel the pumpkin. Place the sweet potato/pumpkin on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with paprika & salt & spread out onto the baking sheet (use 2 if 1 isn’t large enough). Roast in the same oven with the beetroot for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown, turning them over halfway.
- Arrange the spinach & rocket leaves on a large plate/bowl. Once the vegetables are cooled slightly (they can be used cold or warm), spread them onto the bed of greens. Crumble the goat cheese on top, followed by the pistachios. Drizzle the whole salad with a little olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and squeeze the orange juice on (use as much or as little orange juice as you like). If you prefer the dressing to be more acidic, add a squeeze of lemon juice as well.
Notes
- You may roast the vegetables up to 2 days ahead to save time. Store them in airtight containers in the fridge until needed.
