This roasted pumpkin, spinach & cranberry salad is the perfect meal for autumn & winter months when you’re craving a salad. The combination of the sticky maple roasted pumpkin with the tart & chewy dried cranberries, toasted pecans, smoky bacon & creamy blue cheese is an addictive combination.
And of course the dressing, a maple & white balsamic vinaigrette that’s pretty fabulous. The combination of it all together is simply a salad masterpiece. All modesty aside. I originally shared this recipe on my old website – The Fresh Aussie which is now obsolete, but is too good now to share again on Fresh Hunger, this new website.
Sometimes we’ll have this salad twice in one week in our house & lunch leftovers as it makes quite a lot & I tend to write my recipes for four people or more. I need to rethink that idea perhaps…
Serve this salad as a main meal or as an appetizer. I’m including it in our Christmas Day menu. Christmas, do you believe it almost December? Cheers, Lovoni
A PIC TO SHARE ON PINTEREST
- 3 lb (1.3kg) calabaza pumpkin (or butternut squash)*
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- salt & freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 8 slices bacon
- 5 oz (141g) baby spinach leaves
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted pecans
- 4 oz (113g) blue cheese, coarsely crumbled
- MAPLE VINAIGRETTE
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon yellow mustard
- pinch of salt & freshly ground pepper
- To make maple vinaigrette, shake all ingredients together in a medium jar with a screw top lid until well combined; set aside.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place a greased wire rack on one baking sheet.
- Peel pumpkin using a small, sharp knife or peeler. Cut pumpkin into 1-inch (2.5cm) slices. Toss pumpkin, olive oil, salt & pepper on a baking sheet without the wire rack. Arrange pumpkin in a single layer. Roast for 30 minutes. Drizzle with maple syrup; toss. Roast a further 10 minutes or until pumpkin is browned & caramelized.
- Lay strips of bacon, in a single on prepared wire rack. While pumpkin is cooking, cook bacon for about 20 minutes or until crisp. Cut into 1-inch (2.5cm) pieces.
- Arrange spinach leaves, pumpkin, bacon, cranberries & pecans in a large bowl or individual bowls. Drizzle with dressing. Top with blue cheese.
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hey!!! Last year I got your recipe for the Roasted Pumpkin, Spinach & Cranberry Salad from your The Fresh Aussie website I used this recipe and another for our christmas lunch…. it was a SMASH HIT!!! this year I had three requests to make it and I couldn’t find the recipe, I hunted (for three weeks through my history, trying to remember what was in it, trying to make a substitute, until my fed up husband mentioned it at a pre christmas party, …. our neice had swiped the recipe (because it was SOOOO good) and pasted it in her scrapbook which she uses for recipes….. so today just in time she took photo’s and sent them to me … I thought OH THANK GOD!!! and tried to put in the web address … what?! it’s not there?! OMG I’m going to have to enlarge that picture!! so i tried putting the name of it plus the fresh aussie and voila! i found it … I can’t tell you how excited I am to have this recipe in my repertoire, men like it, kids like it, even my sister in law that hates everything likes it! (that may be an exaggeration). I have printed, saved, and emailed this recipe because I DONT WANT TO LOSE IT AGAIN … it’s so bloody good! Merry Christmas!
Lesley, what fabulous detective work. I love that squash recipe & I’m just getting ready to print it out to make this week. I’m sorry the Fresh Aussie site wasn’t there for you to locate the recipe. Fresh Hunger has replaced it – a more current site that has more scope for me to grow it. I have uploaded some faves onto the Fresh Hunger site (as you discovered). When I find recipes I LOVE, I put them in a binder with plastic sleeves. If I find recipes I like the sound of & want to make one day, I print those & they go into a file folder. Everything is online nowadays – easy to access but crappy when the site is no longer operational. I’m so happy you were able to find it again. Merry Christmas to you too. I hope you subscribe to Fresh Hunger – I promise that site isn’t going anywhere & I have lots of wonderful things to share in 2018. Merry Christmas to you! Cheers!