Something old, something new, Part 2: Warm Beet and Butternut Squash Salad

My office is pretty open and casual (that and I need to try to let warm air trickle into my windowless cave), so I usually work with my door open. Whenever my door is closed and I'm not with a patient, it usually means one of two things - I'm listening to my iPod (to drown out the sound of the construction downstairs) and/or I'm eating...

Usually my snack of choice is cottage cheese, applesauce and a handful of walnuts, but I had some leftover beets to use up, and after flipping through Kathryn's Twitter feed and blog, I basically came full circle when I stumbled upon this recipe by Sophie, the dietitian behind Mostly Eating, who along with Elaine of Greens & Berries, are swapping recipes and nutrition resources with Kathryn over Twitter all the time.

I had to make a few tweaks to the recipe; despite looking in two places (the Farmers' Market and Sunterra) I couldn't find one of the key ingredients, sumac*, and I had butternut squash instead of sweet potato.

While I was shopping for this recipe, part of me wished that I was *in need* of beets instead of trying to use them up - Innisfail Growers had some specialty beets at their booth at the market - they had some of the carrot-shaped ones and some golden beets too! *drool* Totally going back for those :)

I actually made this recipe at the same time as I did the soup. The beet and squash can be roasted together (and having the rosemary-infused squash in the salad is *amazing*), then you can prepare the salad while the soup is simmering, or if you don't mind having it cold or reheated in the microwave, you can let the vegetables stand until you're done making the soup, and that way they won't be too hot to handle either.


Beets, ready to be roasted


I learned the hard way that I like raw onion less than I thought - my coworkers teased me about how a pile of raw onion would be left in my bowl after I finished the salad - so in the recipe below I've toned down the amount of onion that's in it, but if you like it more than I do, feel free to increase :)

Warm Beet and Butternut Squash Salad
Adapted from Mostly Eating
Makes 2-4 servings

• 6 medium beets, any colour, washed but unpeeled
  
• Half of a medium butternut squash (~700 g)
  
• 10 mL (2 tsp) olive oil
  
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  
• ¼ red onion, finely diced
  
• 30 mL (2 tbsp) orange juice
  
• 15 mL (1 tbsp) lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).
   
2. Rub olive oil into skin of beets. Loosely wrap beets in a tin foil parcel, and place on a baking tray and roast for 20 minutes.
   
3. After 20 minutes, rub flesh of squash with remaining olive oil and place cut-side down next to beets on baking tray with rosemary tucked underneath. Continue baking both for an additional 40-60 minutes, or until flesh of squash is soft in the middle, and beets are slightly firmer but soft to knife point. Remove vegetables from oven and let cool.
   
4. Remove skin from beetroot by rubbing them with paper towel and roughly chop.
   
5. Cut a crosshatch pattern into the flesh of the squash without piercing skin, then "invert" squash (it should look sort of like this, but in squash-form as opposed to mango-form) and cut cubes of squash flesh away from skin.
   
6. Toss beets, squash and onion in a medium-sized bowl with orange and lemon juices. Serve cold or warm (can be reheated for 30 seconds in the microwave). Excellent with a dollop of cottage cheese... for some saltiness and protein (!)

Nutrition Info (per ½ recipe): 188 calories, 5 g fat (1 g saturated), 0 mg cholesterol, 35 g carbohydates (8 g fibre, 21 g sugar), 5 g protein, 196 mg sodium. An excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, folate, magnesium, potassium and manganese. A good source of vitamin B₆ and iron.

     *I've since heard that sumac can be found quite easily in Calgary, in Middle Eastern markets like Somar Food Market and Atlas Specialty, as well as Cookbook Co. Cooks, which I'm guessing has a better-stocked permanent location than their booth at the Farmers' Market, where I *did* find other, wonderful things.