I just love this time of year. Cosy dark nights, wearing chunky knit jumpers and boots, what’s not to love! Himself thinks I’m a total weirdo. I also love playing with different autumnal flavours such as this squash and pear. I always like to eat a good salad and once we move out of summer, I look to heartier warm salads.

There are already a few roast veg salads on the blog but the addition of pear here makes it very different. I know some might recoil at the addition of black pudding but trust me, it is delicious. Roast pears add an intense juiciness and the fresh pear on top adds a crisp texture.

 

Useful tips & links:

• I recommend to peel the squash. This is just my preference, people often leave the skin on which will make your life much easier if you want to do that. To make it even easier again, buy a packet of prepped squash, I won’t tell anyone.
• I love black pudding on this but you can leave it off and keep it vegetarian.
• Likewise, if you don’t like goats’ cheese you can use feta instead or blue cheese also works well with there flavours.
• I usually top salads with toasted nuts or seeds for crunch but the fresh pear and pomegranate seeds add crunch. To be honest, the seeds are really there to add colour and a juicy burst of freshness, if you don’t have them don’t worry about it.
• For other recipes in a similar vein, have a look at my Warm Black Pudding and Apple Salad and also this Butternut Squash and Chorizo Salad with Harissa and Feta.
• For more inspiration have a look at Michelle’s Butternut Squash Salad with Spinach and Feta on The Last Food Blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Squash Pear and Goats’ Cheese Salad with Black Pudding

 

Serves 2 generously

Ingredients:

• ½ of a medium butternut squash, peeled deseeded and diced
• 1 red onion peeled and cut into wedges
• 2 tablespoons of oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• Salt and pepper
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme
• 2 pears
• 50g of goats’ cheese
• 75g of black pudding
• Salad leaves
• Pomegranate seeds
• Balsamic dressing

 

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200c/180c fan/gas mark 5. Prepare the squash by peeling, deseeding and cutting into cubes.
• Put the cubes of squash and onion wedges into a baking dish, add the garlic and pour over the oil and honey. Season with some salt and pepper and mix it all together thoroughly. Place a few sprigs of thyme on top and put it in the oven to roast for 30-40 minutes. How long it will take depends on how large your cubes of squash are.
• Keep an eye on the veg to make sure they don’t burn but you do want them to caramelise a little to bring out their sweetness. If they start to go dark before they soften then cover with foil.
• Cut one of the pears in half and peel one half and the other full pear. Set the unpeeled half to one side and remove the core of the peeled pear and cut into cubes. Add the cubes to the roasting dish about 15 minutes from the end of the squash cooking time.
• When the onion, squash and pear are soft remove from the oven. If you are using the black pudding start cooking that now.
• Arrange some leaves on a couple of plates and divide the squash, onion and cooked pear on top. Dot some goats’ cheese on top of the warm veg. If you are using black pudding, crumble that over now too.
• Very finely slice the unpeeled pear and arrange that on top.
• Drizzle over the balsamic dressing and top with a few pomegranate seeds.