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Roasted Vegetable Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing

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Happy October and holy YUM, I seriously cannot even deal with how much I love this salad.  I happen to know that Courtney is on the same page with this one too.  Between the two of us we throw together a lot of salads on a weekly basis and this roasted vegetable salad is our current obsession.  There is some major flavor going on in this bowl.  The roasted veggies – brussels sprouts, butternut squash and cauliflower are a meal in itself.  The salad really comes alive once you throw in the sweet dried cherries and toasted pecans and top it off with the manchego cheese, well forget about it…you will be in love!  The creamy (healthy) horseradish dressing has a bite to it but brings everything together in the most addictive and satisfying way. RUN, don’t walk to the store to gather up these ingredients so you can have this on your table tonight!

vegssalad

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Roasted Vegetable Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing
 
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Serves: 4 as a main dish
Ingredients
For the salad:
  • 2 C butternut squash, peeled and seeded cut into ½ inch cubes
  • 2 C brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
  • ½ cauliflower head, cut into small florets
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • kosher salt
  • 4 C arugula
  • ⅓ C machego cheese, cut into chunks
  • ½ C toasted pecans
  • ⅓ C dried cherries
For the Creamy Horseradish Dressing:
  • 1 Tbsp prepared horseradish cream
  • ¼ C white wine vinegar
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • ⅓ C good quality olive oil
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
For the Salad:
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line two roasting pans with parchment paper. Toss butternut squash, brussels sprouts and cauliflower florets in olive oil. Arrange on sheet pans so the vegetables are spread out evenly. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Roast in oven for 30 minutes or until vegetables turn a golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool.
  2. In a large bowl add arugula, roasted vegetables, manchego , dried cherries and toasted pecans.
For the Creamy Horseradish Dressing:
  1. Using a blender or immersion blender, add all ingredients except for oil and blend. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil.
  2. Drizzle dressing over the salad and toss to coat. You may have additional dressing leftover. Store remaining dressing in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Orange Balsamic Wild Rice Salad

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Not gonna lie, we just took your standard wild rice and cranked it up to like a 10!!  This orange balsamic wild rice salad is outa this world.  The flavors are insanely perfect together and it also has the added bonus of being really filling and easy to make.  Winning!! The inspiration for this salad came from ingredients that were on hand and the use of a little imagination.  So we had some brussel sprouts and just roasted them in the oven.  While that was happening, we prepared the wild rice according to package directions and then added some deliciously tart dried cherries, pistachios and beautifully creamy goat cheese (we already know that pistachios and goat cheese are a match made in heaven, right?)

Next came the piece de resistance…we tossed it all together with an orange balsamic vinaigrette.  Yes!!  We are all about using up all the deliciously sweet oranges that are growing on the tree out back.  (We so wish you could smell the orange blossoms on the tree right now…the backyard literally smells like a tropical island, which is rare in the desert, but not so rare this time of year, when the fruit trees are blooming) Yum.  So, anyway, what better way to incorporate some fresh citrus but to blend it into a balsamic?  We should add that you most certainly do not need to have an orange tree of your own for this dressing, just grab an orange next time you are at the grocery store and you are good to go!  We hope that you love this salad as much as we do!

 

 

Orange Balsamic Wild Rice Salad
 
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Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 1 C long grain wild rice - cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 C brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • pinch kosher salt
  • 2 Tbsp pistachios, shelled
  • 3 Tbsp dried cherries
  • ¼ C goat cheese, crumbled
For the Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette:
  • ¼ C fresh squeezed orange juice
  • 3 Tbsp chopped shallots
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tsp honey
  • 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • ¼ C good quality olive oil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a roasting pan with parchment paper. Line brussel sprouts on pan and drizzle with olive oil and a pinch of kosher salt, toss with hands to coat. Spread on pan evenly, roast in oven for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown.
  2. Cook wild rice according to package instructions. Strain and rinse with cold water. Add rice to a medium mixing bowl. Add brussel sprouts, dried cherries, pistachios and goat cheese.
For the Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette:
  1. Add all ingredients except olive oil. Use an immersion blender or a blender, while blending slowly add in olive oil.
  2. Drizzle desired amount of vinaigrette over salad and toss to coat. Store remaining vinaigrette in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. Toss salad to coat and refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette

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I have a roasted vegetable addiction but I am not going to apologize (don’t judge, I can think of worse things).  In fact, we are sure you are going to thank us for this one.  This roasted vegetable quinoa salad with maple balsamic vinaigrette is not only delicious, it’s really pretty (don’t you think so?) and makes a great dish to bring to a party or serve at your own.  Roasted vegetables are seriously one of my most favorite things to make and they go so well with so many different ingredients.  You’ve seen us do them in salads, as side dishes, mixed with different dressings, paired with pastas, meats and fish…the list goes on.  With this dish, we decided to mix some roasted vegetables with yep, you guessed it, another favorite here at GTK… quinoa.   We think the tri-color quinoa is so pretty when paired with the other brightly colored (and super yum) ingredients.  However, you can use any type of quinoa.  We suggest cutting the sweet potatoes and the brussel sprouts into bite sized pieces before you roast them.  This will help them cook quickly and be ready to mix in the salad.  Just keep an eye on the veggies when they are in the oven so they don’t burn.

The maple balsamic vinaigrette pairs perfectly with this salad because it’s slightly sweet and it brings out the flavors of the roasted vegetables.  If you have any leftover dressing store it in the fridge and pour it oven an arugula salad the next day. You should probably just plan on making a little more so you can have it two days in a row, you will be thanking us for this one!!

Stephanie Heymann Photography

Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette
 
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Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
For the Quinoa Salad:
  • 3 C cooked quinoa
  • 1 C roasted brussel sprouts-halved
  • 1 C roasted sweet potatoes - diced
  • ½ C manchego cheese - cubed
  • ⅓ C slivered almond - toasted
  • ¼ C dried tart cherries
  • 1 Tbsp good quality olive oil
  • kosher salt
For the Maple Balsamic Dressing:
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • ¼ C good quality olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 2 tsp white balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the Salad:
  1. Preheat oven to 425°. Clean the brussel sprouts, cut off stems and outer leaves, then slice in half. Place on baking sheet. Peel skin off of sweet potato and dice into bite sized pieces then place on baking sheet with the brussel sprouts. Drizzle vegetables with olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.
  2. Roast in oven for roughly 35 minutes, checking periodically to make sure they don't burn. Once cooked, set aside to cool
  3. Cook quinoa according to package directions then allow to cool. Once cooled, combine quinoa, roasted vegetables, cheese, cherries and almonds in a medium bowl.
For the Maple Balsamic Dressing:
  1. In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and whisk until blended.
  2. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing and toss to coat.

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pear Salad with Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette

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I know we say this every time we post a new salad recipe but this might be our blue ribbon salad right here.  It’s Bosc pear season and that basically mean that the time has come to roast pears because everything is better roasted. Once the pears are roasted it’s a whole new world…eat them plain, serve them with some vanilla bean ice cream….YUM, or top one on your next salad.

Roasting pears is about as simple as it gets.  Use a vegetable peeler to peel the pears, cut them in half and use a melon scooper to remove the core.  Heat brown sugar, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and cinnamon in a saucepan until dissolved and pour over the pears.  Roast for 30 minutes, crank up the heat and broil for the last 1-2 minutes.  Your pears should look just like this.

pearcooked

Allow the pears to cool before serving over greens, otherwise the salad will wilt. We think arugula is the perfect green to pair with the pears (see what I did there??…pair with the pears! haha). The arugula has a peppery flavor which is the perfect  contrast to the sweetness of the pear.  Add some gorgonzola or blue cheese, toasted walnuts and dried cherries and you are almost all set.  Drizzle with our creamy balsamic vinaigrette and you’re in business.

pearplaed2

This is a great make-ahead salad because you can roast the pears and make the salad dressing in advanced.  It should take you less than 5 minutes to assemble the salad and have it on the table.  Once you’ve roasted these pears you will never look at Bosc pears the same way again!

pearplated1

 

Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pear Salad with Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette
 
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Serves: Pears serve 8 /salad serves 1
Ingredients
For the Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pears:
  • 4 Bosc pears
  • ½ lemon
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil
  • ½ C pure maple syrup
  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • small pinch kosher salt
For the Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette:
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 2 Tbsp 0% greek yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 3 Tbsp good quality olive oil
  • 2 C arugula
  • ¼ C toasted walnuts
  • 2 Tbsp blue cheese or gorgonzola
  • 2 Tbsp dried cherries or cranberries
Instructions
For the Maple Cinnamon Roasted Pears:
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Peel the pears with a vegetable peeler and cut in half lengthwise. Use a melon scooper to scoop out the core. Rub all sides of the pear with the half lemon and place in a large casserole dish cored side up.
  2. In a small saucepan over medium heat melt coconut oil, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Heat until melted and sugar is dissolved - about 3 minutes.
  3. Spoon the syrup over the pears and bake 30 minutes. Turn the oven to broil for the last 1-2 minutes, careful not to burn.
  4. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
  5. While the pears are roasting assemble the salad dressing.
For the Creamy Balsamic Vinaigrette:
  1. Using a food processor, blender, or immersion blender - add all ingredients except olive oil and process until smooth, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and continue to process until incorporated. This makes ½ C dressing, use desired amount for the salad and store the remainong dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
  2. Assemble the salad with the pear on top of a bed of arugula sprinkled with the walnuts, blue cheese and dried cherries and drizzled with the creamy balsamic vinaigrette.