Sage-Roast Squash and Sweet Potato Salad

En français ici.

This Thanksgiving was my first in the new apartment, and so the first with an oven big enough to actually roast a turkey in. Not only did we do the oven justice by roasting a fresh beautiful bird in it, but we got good use out of the space in the kitchen: at one point we had no less than 4 cooks at one time, all put on the finishing touches on something different!!

Everyone contributed to the plentiful, homemade meal, and I was certainly thankful for such a wonderful dinner in good company. We surrounded the turkey with all sorts of veggie sides, including the best Brussels sprouts I've ever had (thanks Nick!), potimarron-potato gratin and wild mushroom bread pudding, both made by Camille, mashed potatoes, made by D., and the turkey, which we all consulted about and roasted together, quite an operation.


My side-dish contribution was this sage-roasted squash and sweet potato salad. I got the idea here and then played around with it a bit to fit in with the ingredients I had, and the proportions I wanted. I wasn't very meticulous about measuring, so you'll have to see what works for you.

Ingredients:
2 medium-sized pomarine (or jack be little) squash
2 sweet potatoes
1/4 cup light olive oil
sea salt
pepper
sage


1 1/2 cups green beans
3 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Dressing:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp Xeres vinegar
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp mustard

Preheat the oven to 375F. Peel the squash and sweet potato and cut into small chunks. Arrange on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and sprinkle generously with sage. Cook in the oven until tender, about 25-35 minutes.


In the meantime, cook the green beans in boiling water for about 3 minutes, until bright green and tender but still a bit crunchy. Drain and set aside.

In a large salad bowl, combine the baby spinach, green beans, roasted squash and sweet potatoes, and pine nuts. Mix together the ingredients for the dressing and pour on top. I like to serve this salad while the green beans and roast veggies are still a bit warm because it makes for a nice temperature combination.


I'm submitting this recipe to the Vegetarian Thanksgiving - Recipe Carnival, over at Fun & Food Café. Head over here to take a look at fun vegetarian holiday recipes that have already been submitted.

I also wanted to say a big thank you to Ivy at Kopiaste, for awarding me the 360 Foodie Award. I'm honored. "This is an award to all our fellow foodie bloggers who take the effort and give every dish they prepare a 360 degree eye view."


There don't appear to be particular rules for this award, and I've been a bit too busy to think about who to pass it along to, so I'm going to have to defer on that for now, although many of the blogs I read do take special care to go in depth in their dishes and I appreciate that! Take a look over at the section "Good Cooking" for some examples.