After all that pasta, I figure it’s time for a salad, right? Crunchy greens, zingy red onion, red fall pears, sweet orange slices, and maple-glazed roasted pumpkin slices…YUM. Oh wait, it’s also topped with roasted/salted pistachios. Yum Yum.
You can prepare all your ingredients the day of, but if you’re strapped for time, roast the pumpkin over the weekend and pull it out when you’re putting together your salad during the week. Slice up your pumpkin, mix up equal amounts of maple syrup and olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, let the pumpkin slices swim around for a bit, and arrange on a pan.
After arranging the slices on the pan, pour a little of the magic overtop for optimum caramelization {otherwise known as yummylization}. Roast for about 20 minutes, flip, pour the rest of the magic overtop, and roast for another 20 minutes.
Throw everything else in a bowl, gently toss, whisk up the orange vinaigrette, and serve with the roasted pumpkin slices. Oh so satisfying.
MAPLE ROASTED PUMPKIN AND ORANGE SALAD
INGREDIENTS FOR THE SALAD
- 12 slices pumpkin (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch in thickness)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 good handfuls of mixed greens
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 red pear, thinly sliced
- 1 orange, sectioned, zested, and juiced.
- handful of roasted/salted pistachios
INGREDIENTS FOR THE ORANGE VINAIGRETTE
- Zest and juice from the orange
- salt and pepper to taste
- just enough olive oil to bring the vinaigrette together, maybe 1-2 tablespoons
DIRECTIONS
- Start with roasting the pumpkin slices. Preheat oven to 400. Slice 12 1/4- to 1/2-inch pumpkin slices and put in a large bowl. Whisk together 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup olive oil and salt and pepper to taste, then pour over the pumpkin slices. Arrange on a roasting pan, pour half of the remaining maple syrup mixture over the slices and roast in the oven for about 20 minutes. Turn the slices over, pour the remaining maple syrup mixture over the slices, and roast for another 20-30 minutes, until golden and caramelized.
- Put the rest of the ingredients, the mixed greens through the pistachios, in another large bowl. When working with the orange, first zest it in another smaller bowl, then peel and section it, putting the sections in with the salad ingredients, then squeeze the rest of the juice out in the smaller bowl with the zest. Orange slices with the salad; zest and juice with the vinaigrette.
- To finish the vinaigrette, add salt and pepper to taste with the orange zest and juice, then whisk in 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil until it comes together. Pour over the salad mixture and toss gently.
- To serve, evenly divide the salad between 2-4 plates and serve with 2-3 slices each of the maple roasted pumpkin slices.
meatlessmain.com
MEATLESS MAIN 
One thought on “Sweet Spot Salad”