This simple Cider Roasted Butternut Salad has few ingredients, but all the contrasts in flavor and texture that make a salad sensational: the dried cranberries and apple cider lend sweetness, cider vinegar adds bite, the pepitas bring salt and crunch, and the butter lettuce and tender roasted butternut squash are the soft and creamy foundation. And it’s a feast for the eyes as well, with the brilliant orange squash and deep red cranberries echoing the colors of autumn leaves glowing in the sun.
Apple cider sweetens the squash as it roasts, and adds a deep and distinctive apple flavor to the vinaigrette dressing. Boiling the cider reduces it to a syrup thick enough to coat the squash and sweeten the dressing without watering it down. This only takes a few minutes, and the result is an intense, concentrated, caramelized apple flavor.
A few notes and tips on preparing this recipe:
- It’s important to wait until the squash is almost fully cooked before adding the cider glaze. Lots of recipes for roasted squash will have you tossing the raw squash with a sweetener (usually maple syrup or brown sugar) right at the start; if you do this, the sugar will burn and turn bitter before the squash is tender. You want the squash to roast for a while, to soften and develop its own innate sweetness, then finish it off with a light coating of the sweet syrupy cider for the last few minutes for the perfect texture and flavor.
- I’m a big fan of lining baking sheets with foil for easy cleanup, but don’t do that here. The squash will be nearly impossible to toss and turn during roasting, and the beautiful glaze will stick to the foil instead of the squash. Make sure to be generous with the olive oil when first prepping the squash for roasting, to keep it from sticking to the pan.
- The vinaigrette for this salad is the same as the cider variation of my Basic Vinaigrette – since the reduced cider is used in both the dressing and the squash, it made sense to incorporate the dressing prep right into this recipe. Just know that the cider vinaigrette does exist as a standalone recipe, and would be great in other fall salads.
- Finally, you’ll notice that I don’t use the seedy end of the squash, only the neck. I know, this is terribly wasteful. I find the seedy end to be a real pain to peel, and I don’t like the thinner, curved shape of this part of the squash – it makes it impossible to cube into the same size pieces as those from the neck. I put this part of the squash in my compost pile, and hope it will make a nice dinner for a hungry deer.
Making this ahead and what to do with leftovers:
- The vinaigrette can be made ahead by several days and kept chilled. Take it out of the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving to let it come to room temperature.
- The squash can be roasted a couple of hours ahead and held at room temperature. Technically you could make it farther ahead and keep it chilled until needed – and certainly do keep leftovers, to enjoy within a few days. But I like the texture and flavor best when the squash is freshly roasted and at room temperature.
Cider Roasted Butternut Salad
September 29, 2020
: 4 to 6
Ingredients
- One large butternut squash, 3 to 3½ pounds
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ½ tablespoon minced shallot
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 heads of butter or Boston lettuce
- ¼ cup dried cranberries
- ¼ cup pepitas (roasted, salted pumpkin seed kernels)
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oven to 425 degrees on the Roast setting.
- Step 2 Using a sharp, strong knife, cut off the bulbous end of the squash that contains the seeds, cutting just above that section at the base of the straight neck. Trim off the stem end. Use a vegetable peeler to peel off the skin and the green, stripe-y fibers that run the length of the neck. Cut the neck crosswise into 1-inch rounds, then into 1-inch cubes. Transfer the squash cubes to a large, rimmed baking sheet, spreading them out to a single layer. Compost the seedy end of the squash or reserve it for another use.
- Step 3 Drizzle the squash with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper, then toss with your hands to coat the squash evenly. Spread it out to a single layer. Roast the squash for 30 minutes, gently stirring the squash every 10 minutes to roast all sides evenly.
- Step 4 While the squash roasts, make the apple cider reduction. Put the apple cider in a small saucepan over high heat and bring it to a boil. Keep boiling, swirling the pan occasionally, until the cider is reduced to ¼ cup, about 10 minutes. Watch carefully toward the end, as its evaporation will accelerate as it reduces. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
- Step 5 Pour half of the reduced cider into a small bowl or liquid measuring cup. To this, add the apple cider vinegar and minced shallot, whisk to combine, and set this mixture aside. To the reduced cider that remains in the saucepan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and whisk to combine into a thick, smooth glaze. If the mixture seizes up and separates, return the saucepan to the heat for a minute or two, whisking until the glaze smooths out.
- Step 6 After the squash has roasted for 30 minutes, drizzle the cider/olive oil glaze over the squash and toss carefully until all the squash is coated. Spread it out in a single layer. Roast the squash until it’s just caramelized but not burned, 5 to 10 minutes. When the squash is done, use a spatula to gently remove it to a plate and let it cool to room temperature.
- Step 7 Finish making the vinaigrette. To the cider/vinegar/shallot mixture, add kosher salt (¼ teaspoon if using Diamond Crystal, or 1/8 teaspoon of Morton’s), ¼ teaspoon of pepper, and the Dijon mustard. Gradually add 1/3 to ½ cup of olive oil, whisking constantly. Add the full ½ cup if you like your dressing less acidic.
- Step 8 Tear the lettuce into bite-sized pieces and put it in a large bowl. Toss the lettuce gently with enough dressing to coat each leaf of lettuce thoroughly but lightly. Transfer the lettuce to a large serving bowl or individual salad plates. Arrange the squash over the greens. Sprinkle the dried cranberries and pepitas over the top of the salad. Drizzle with more dressing to taste.
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