Autumn Chicken & Squash salad with Orange Dressing
Typically not a salad kind of girl, most likely because salads have been given a bad rep, they are sometimes generalised into these boring minimal leafy plates we associate with …. diets. Thankfully this is not the case, salads have been completely reinvented in the last few years, full of healthy fats, flavour and crunch they are one of my favourite things to whip up! This dish has got a lovely crunch thanks to the toasted seeds which goes well alongside the tender squash.I always try to add in a little bit of protein, torn chicken or turkey I think can be added to almost every salad!Its so delicious! Opting for no dressing is ok but lets be honest a really good dressing can bring out the flavours and making eating some leaves that’s bit easier. I always make my own dressing, unfortunately most shop bought ones are packed full of crap… hence why they last months on a shelf! This salad is perfect coming into the colder months …sigh, its comforting, filling and a little bit colourful to brighten things up!
Tip – I always cook extra quinoa and things like squash, sweet potato, bulgur for adding to salads during the rest of the week!
Serves 2
Cooks in Minutes
Ingredients
- 1 pack of Greene Farms torn Turkey or chicken
- 60g left over cooked quinoa
- 1/2 butternut squash
- 1 red pepper
- 100g mixed washed leaves
- 50g pumpkin seeds
Dressing
- 1 orange
- 1.1/2 tbsp virgin olive oil
- 1/2 “ginger
- tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander leaves
tsp raw honey - salt & pepper to Taste
Method
- Preheat oven 200°C.
- Start by prepping your butternut squash, peel and dice into 1.5cm cubes. Toss them onto a lined tray and drizzle over with a little melted coconut oil or oil of preference and season with some salt and pepper.
- Roast in the oven for 40 minutes at 200°C.Until golden in colour and tender.
- With the red pepper simply wash and cut in half, place on an oven tray and roast for 25 minutes (also at 200ºC) until wilted and browned. Slice once roasted.
- In a dry skillet over high heat toast the pumpkin seeds, for 1-2 minutes ether side until browned or alternatively place in the oven evenly spread on a tray for 8 minutes at 200°C.
- Moving on to the dressing, juice the orange removing any pips from the liquid and place into a food processor or nutribllet and add in the rest of the ingredients, blend for 40 seconds until a creamy yellow colour. If you don’t have a blender you can whisk using a fork , make sure to grate the ginger finely if doing it this way.
- Place the leaves, roasted squash, pepper, seeds, pumpkin and quinoa in a large mixing bowl and drizzle in half of the dressing, using two forks combine well. Divide into two separate bowls and place the torn Turkey/chicken on top, finishing with a drizzle more of dressing.