After a few weeks of less than healthy eating I was craving a good salad. A salad that would qualify as dinner.

I immediately went to my vegetarian/vegan cookbook,  The Vibrant Table. Most of the recipes I was itching to make were better suited for spring and summer produce, but I found a beautiful autumn salad that caught my eye.

This salad involved a lot of ingredients that we love – beets, Brussles sprouts, apples and pears. I had to swap the use of squash for sweet potatoes due to my allergy, but it worked perfectly, and also falls under the favorite food category. Persimmons were called for as an optional ingredient for adding to the salad and conveniently I had one sitting on my counter from the farmer’s market.

If you’ve never worked with a persimmon, I suggest you find one while they’re readily available this fall. It’s a fruit (berry, technically) that looks like an orange tomato. I thought it had a taste vaguely similar to a sweet apple but with a texture of a grape without the “pop.”

I was bummed to omit the pear as my husband grabbed the last one for his mid morning snack, but honestly, there was enough going on in this salad that it wasn’t missed.

As mentioned, there’s a lot happening in this salad. It’s not one to be whipped up 15 minutes before you’re hungry.

The night before I cleaned and prepped the Brussels sprouts, toasted the pecans, and roasted the beets.

Day of, I roasted the Brussels sprouts, sweet potato, and apples. Made the dressing. Warmed up the beets. And assembled the final product on a bed of spinach and arugula.

Autumn Salad

Ingredients for salad:

• 1/2 C pecan halves
• 2-3 mini red beets, quartered
• 4-5 mini candy beets, quartered
• 2 tbsp olive oil, divided use
• 2 apples, sliced in wedges
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1 lb Brussels sprouts, cleaned and halved
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 pear, sliced (optional)
• 1 persimmon, sliced
• 3 handfuls baby spinach
• 2 handful baby arugula

Ingredients for dressing:

• 1/2 C roasted apples
• 2 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread pecans on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast 8 minutes. Remove and set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Put red beets in a foil pouch, toss with 1/2 tbsp olive oil, S+P. Put candy beets in a separate foil pouch, toss with 1/2 tbsp olive oil, S+P. Roast 35 minutes, until tender.
5. Place apples in a baking dish. Bake 20 minutes.
6. Toss Brussels sprouts and sweet potato with remaining olive oil, S+P, and paprika. Spread onto a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Roast 10 minutes, flip, roast another 10 minutes, until tender.
7. Make dressing: Blend 1/2 C roasted apples, molasses, vegetable oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt. With the motor running, stream in the olive oil. If needed, add up to 2 tbsp water to thin the dressing.
8. Assemble salad: Place roasted veggies and fruit, nuts, and fresh fruit over a bed of spinach and arugula.

*This recipe is modified from The Vibrant Table*

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