Roasted Grape Salad With Quinoa
Getting a taste of that gorgeous fall weather in Colorado has me thinking of fall inspired foods. I was lucky to find a butternut squash at Whole Foods and had been holding this recipe for a while. Have you ever roasted grapes before??! Yeah, me either but I have a feeling this is going to be my new favorite ingredient. Just like when you roast vegetables the flavor gets much more enhanced, same here with the grapes, they take on a different taste and the flavor is elevated. The skin gets softer in the process and the insides are just bursting with sweet juice.
Ingredients
1 container of seedless red grapes, rinsed and dried completely
1 small or medium butternut squash, peeled, cut and diced small
1 cup of cooked quinoa, or just make the whole package like I did and freeze leftovers. Cook according to package directions, then cool.
a good handful of fresh spinach
½ log of goat milk brie drizzled with honey
a good handful of whole pecans or any nuts of your choice
fresh lemon juice
extra virgin olive oil
1 finely grated garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Heat oven to 425, for the grapes spread them on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil and a little sea salt. I wanted my grapes to retain their shape so I only roasted them for about 15 minutes, occasionally shaking the pan just until I saw them start to slightly burst. If you want them to completely burst with the juice oozing out I would place them on parchment and cook them longer. Set aside to cool.
Roast the diced butternut squash, on a separate baking sheet, same temp until golden. Let cool.
Cook quinoa according to package and cool down.
Assemble your salad on a platter with all the with all the ingredients including the spinach and cheese and nuts.
Spoon the lemon and olive oil dressing all around.
LEMON DRESSING
1 part fresh squeezed lemon juice to 2 parts olive oil
add 1 grated garlic clove, salt and pepper and whisk
ENJOY !!
Xo
Sam