Salad with Roasted Fall Vegetables and Citrus Dressing
In this blog post I have a recipe for a delicious, seasonal salad with roasted fall vegetables. It is the perfect appetizer for your Thanksgiving table. This is not a boring salad. I seasoned a sweet potato cubes, corn and cauliflower florets with a dash of smoked paprika and I roasted them until they are caramelized and tender. As a base, I used baby kale, which is so fresh crunchy. In the dressing I used freshly squeezed satsuma and lemon juice. To make the dressing extra creamy I blended in a whole head of roasted garlic. The end result was amazing.
Why should you make this salad?
This salad with roasted fall vegetables is vegan, gluten free, dairy free and heart healthy. It contains fruits, vegetables, nuts, spices and olive oil. This makes it suitable for vegans, people with gluten or dairy intolerance. Since the dressing doesn’t contain any sugar, diabetics can also enjoy this salad.
This is and easy recipe. You need only a few minutes of prep work. You don’t need much cooking experience to prepare this salad.
Helpful tips
You can use regular kale instead of baby kale. I prefer baby kale because it is more tender and easier to chew. This salad will taste great with other greens too. You can easily substitute kale with arugula or spinach.
It took me 30 minutes to roast the vegetables but baking time might be different for you. It depends on the size of the vegetable and the type of the oven. My advice is to check them after 15 minutes. Use a fork to poke the sweet potato cubes. If they are soft then they are cooked through. If they are not ready yet stir and cook them a bit longer.
The garlic might need longer time in the oven. After the other vegetables are done roasting use oven safe gloves to open the foil pack and use a fork to check if the garlic is soft. If it is not return it in the oven for 5-10 more minutes.
It is very important to cool off the vegetables before you add them to the kale. They could be slightly warm, but not hot out of the oven.
If you don’t have immersion blender to make the dressing you can use a food processor. You can also use mortar and pestle set like this.
Salad with Roasted Fall Vegetables and Citrus Dressing
Equipment
- Immersion blender
Ingredients
For the salad
- 5 oz baby kale or other greens
- 1 large sweet potato washed, peeled and cubed
- ½ lb Cauliflower florets or to taste
- 2 corn on the cob
- ½ cup raw pecans or other nuts
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 Tbsp olive oil divided
For the dressing
- the juice of one satsuma or mandarin orange
- the juice of one small lemon about 2 Tbsp
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- one whole garlic head roasted
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
To roast the vegetables
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Wash and peel the sweet potato. Then cut it to half-inch cubes. Cut the cauliflower to bite-sized florets. Remove the husk from the corn.
- Cut the top of one garlic head. Drizzle it with olive oil season it with salt and wrap in aluminum foil.
- On a baking sheet add the cubed sweet potato, cauliflower florets and the corn cobs. Season them with olive oil, salt and smoked paprika. Stir well. Add the foil packet with the garlic on the baking sheet with the vegetables and bake for 25-30 minutes. Stir and check for doneness after 15 minutes. The garlic might need extra baking time to soften.
- Once the vegetables are done baking remove them from the oven. Use oven mitts to unwrap the tin foil. Cool off the vegetables for 10 minutes.
To prepare the dressing
- In a wide mouth jar squeeze the juice of one satsuma (mandarin) and add 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and 2 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Then remove the roasted garlic from the peels and add it to the jar. Add salt to taste and blend with an immersion blender.
To assemble the salad
- Add the baby kale in a deep bowl. Cut the corn off the cob. Add the roasted corn, cauliflower and sweet potato on top of the kale. Add the pecans and drizzle with the dressing.
- Stir and serve right away.
Other Salad recipes you might like
Fall Harvest Salad With Apples and Pecans
French Riviera Salad (My Interpretation of the Niçoise Salad)