I have a new seasonal vegan salad that is rocking my face off.
It took a few tries to perfect…
But now that I’ve eaten it half a dozen times, I feel like I need to share.
Are you as excited as I am that it’s squash season again??
More specifically, KABOCHA SQUASH season.
It overlaps with fig season ever so briefly, so you gotta get on it to make this salad happen before November arrives. Although then you could swap in dried figs, which will work just as well, but just offer a different kind of sweetness.
There’s nothing quite like fresh figs. My tree didn’t yield any this year, and I think it’s my own fault. Because it’s potted and not on the drip I am not so good about watering it. My bad! Sorry my little dwarf fig. I will get you back in good health, I promise.
Figs and pecans and squash…it is FALL up in here. 🙂
Let’s roast some squash!
Not sure about the correctness of what I’m about to share, so take it with a jug of salt, but I eat the skin of kabocha squash. I’m pretty sure all squash skin is edible, if we are being technical, but whether or not it’s recommended or tastes good is up to each individual I suppose. Anyway, I peel butternut, but leave kabocha and delicata as is. I don’t find it to be too hard once roasted and I don’t think the flavor is bad, so that’s my story.
I coated the wedges in coconut oil and salt and roasted them at 350 for ~30 minutes with a few minutes on broil at the end to get a nice browning on top.
The only other prep required for this salad is the dressing.
I always have some kind of vinaigrette on hand, and either balsamic or champagne would work great here.
This is a link to my vinaigrette recipe, but it’s loose and I rarely measure things as long as you eyeball a good ratio of oil to vinegar with a splash of maple syrup and mustard you should be good.
Vegan Fall Salad [vegan, gluten free, soy free, dairy free]
Ingredients:
- curly kale, destemmed and chopped
- roasted kabocha squash
- roasted pecans
- fresh figs, halved (swap for chopped dried figs or dried cranberries if you can’t get figs at your local market)
- avocado
- home-made vinaigrette
Directions:
Massage the kale in the vinaigrette (be generous!!) and add more salt as needed.
Top with wedges of roasted kabocha, half and avo, pecans, and figs.
Toss it all together and enjoy!
If you make this let me know! I love how roasting one squash provides for so many meals…makes it easy to eat on repeat the whole week long.
The shift to October feels real now. September was a blur of back to school fun, but it still kinda felt like an extension of summer. Now that pumpkin patches are open and crunchy leaves are covering the ground, I am finally willing to accept autumn.
Which is good because October is the best month of the year!
Yum!! Fresh figs and kabocha squash? So good. I am just realizing that I didn’t have any figs this season. So sad.
I eat the skin on delicata and kabocha too. So much easier! But G won’t eat the skin so when we have delicata I roast a whole half for her and then scoop out the flesh with a spoon. I am starting L on roasted slices with the skin on early. Like, right now pre-teeth 🙂
Yay fall!
You are a very nice mama. Happy fall!!
Gorgeous!!! Our fresh figs here seem to be done and gone already ;( but i do love dried figs too. I totally eat the skin on kabocha and delicata squash- especially when the outer skin is properly coated with a bit of oil and salt. Such a genius move to broil at the end! I’ll need to swap in sunflower seeds or hemp seeds- totally going to roast a bunch of squash this weekend so i can have this for lunches next week :))
Btw, have you ever had basalmic soy vinegrette?? I am obsessed with it! Just add like 2-3TB soy sauce (or tamari) to a basic basalmic vinegrette. Crazy how good it is!
I think I tried one of gena’s recipes with that combo! Totally delish 🙂
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