Green Salad with Roasted Squash and Apples

Sweet. Spicy. Fresh. For an entree salad, and to achieve your new years resolution of eating more vegetables...try this. Both sophisticated and contemporary, this combination of flavors and textures bids adieu to boring salads. Trust us.

At our supermarket, we have a bin of acorn squash overflowing at the brim. Stemming from a recipe from one of our favorite winter cookbooks, gently tossing our squash in a coating of beet-molasses and salt, we roasted strips of acorn squash under the broiler. These caramelized golden strips get set over a plate heaping with salad greens, tart Braeburn apple slices, and salty grated cheese. Sounds delicious? It is. What brings it together is a Dijon mustard vinaigrette.

Slice:
1 peeled, deseeded Acorn Squash
1 small Braeburn apple
A small wedge of cheese of your choice (Parmesan, Sharp Cheddar, or Feta)

Whisk together:
A tablespoon of good, spicy Dijon mustard
3-to-2 ratio of Olive Oil and Vinegar (We used Spanish sherry vinegar)
Sea Salt
Freshly Cracked Pepper

Other materials
Honey, Molasses, or Maple Syrup
Salad Greens

(This serves 2.)
1. ROAST the squash slices at 400 for 20 minutes, coated in a dash of oil, sweetener of your choice, and  salt.

2. Make dressing

3. Toss the salad greens with the vinaigrette. Add the apple slices and toss again. Slice or grate the cheese on top of the dressed greens and plate on two plates. Top the salad with the warm, roasted slices of squash. And while you are at it, pour yourself a nice, cold glass of white wine. It goes great with this salad, and heck, you're eating a salad right? What's a little glass of wine as a treat?