Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas and Feta
October, the month of squash par excellence! There are so many ways to prepare squash and so many types of squash that you could eat it all year round without getting bored.
Butternut squash is one of my favourite squashes and it goes great with feta. Here is a recipe for Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas and Feta.
Butternut squash
Butternut squash is a beige squash with orange flesh. It has a rounded shape at the bottom with a long neck. For cooking, it’s one of the easiest and fastest squash to work with!
Its skin is relatively thin, compared to other squashes and its flesh melts like butter when cooked, hence its name “butternut”.
It can be prepared roasted in the oven, mashed, in soup and, thanks to its sweet and slightly nutty taste, it can even be found in sweet desserts such as pancakes, waffles or cake. Here is an example of recipe for Butternut squash Soup with Pomegranate and Feta.
How to prepare Butternut squash?
Squash is usually a little harder to work than zucchini and eggplant for example because of its skin which is very hard and its flesh which is very dense hard to cut. So be very careful when cutting or peeling a squash: use a good knife and avoid sudden gestures.
Step 1: Open
Start by opening the butternut in half by cutting it lengthwise.
Step 2: Seed
Using a tablespoon, dig the seed area and remove the seeds and the stringy flesh that surrounds the squash seeds.
Step 4: Peel
To peel butternut squash, you can use a thrift or a knife. Personally, I prefer the thrift, because you do not lose flesh. Peel from top to bottom.
Note that the flesh can be eaten. However, it remains relatively hard when cook, which is why I decided to remove it.
Step 5: Cut
Cut the butternut into strips about 1 cm wide.
If you cook for two people, you can use half the butternut for this salad and the other half (half the top that form semicircles and not half moons) to make a soup (Butternut squash Soup with Pomegranate and Feta).
Recipe of Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas and Feta
To make this Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas and Feta for 4 people, you need the following ingredients:
Ingredients
- 1/2 Butternut squash (preferably the bottom/rounded part of the squash)
- Salad leaves, about 250 g (young spinach shoots, mâche, arugula, lettuce)
- 100g feta
- 100g chickpeas (canned, drained)
- 1/2 pomegranate
- 3 branches of rosemary
- olive oil
- salt, pepper
For the sauce
- 1 yoghurt
- 3 tablespoons hummus (homemade if possible)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon Tahini
- Salt
- pepper
Preparation
Step 1: Butternut squash
Once, the butternut squash prepared as described above, place the butternut strips on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Add a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and place the rosemary branches on the squash.
Bake for 20 minutes at 180 °C.
Steps 2: Chickpeas
Drain the chickpeas and place them as well on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Add a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 °C.
Step 3: Salad
Wash and dry the salad.
Put the salad in a bowl and add a drizzle of olive oil, a spoonful of lemon juice and a little fleur de sel. Mix well. This sauce should not be the main sauce but serves to enhance the taste of the salad before placing it on the plate.
Step 4: Feta and pomegranate
Crumble the feta. For a creamier texture, you can add a tablespoon of yoghurt, taken from the yoghurt used for salad sauce!
Seed the pomegranate.
Step 5: The sauce
Mix yoghurt, hummus, olive oil, lemon juice and Tahini in a blender. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust the taste if necessary.
Step 6: Preparing the plate
Place the salad on a plate, add the butternut squash strips, chickpeas, pomegranate, sprinkle with feta. Pour the sauce over the whole.
Enjoy slightly warm.
How do I vary this recipe?
You can quite vary this recipe of Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas and Feta, here are some ideas:
- Replace Butternut squash with pumpkin
- Add grilled cauliflower
- Add squash seeds to give a crunchy touch
- For a more substantial dish, turn this salad into a bowl. Add lentils to the bottom of the bowl, then all the salad ingredients.
If you liked this recipe, then you will surely like these other salad recipes too!
Don’t hesitate to leave me a comment if you have any questions!
Butternut Squash Salad with Chickpeas and Feta
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Ingredients
- 1/2 Butternut squash preferably the bottom/rounded part of the squash
- Salad leaves about 250 g (young spinach shoots, mâche, arugula, lettuce)
- 100 g feta
- 100 g chickpeas canned, drained
- 1/2 pomegranate
- 3 branches of rosemary
- olive oil
- salt pepper
For the sauce
- 1 yoghurt
- 3 tablespoons hummus homemade if possible
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon Tahini
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
Prepare the squash
- Start by opening the butternut in half by cutting it lengthwise.
- Using a tablespoon, dig the seed area and remove the seeds and the stringy flesh that surrounds the squash seeds.
- Peel the butternut squash. Cut it then into strips about 1 cm wide.
- Place the butternut strips on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Add a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and place the rosemary branches on the squash. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 °C.
Prepare the salad
- Drain the chickpeas and place them as well on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Add a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 180 °C.
- Wash and dry the salad.
- Put the salad in a bowl and add a drizzle of olive oil, a spoonful of lemon juice and a little fleur de sel. Mix well. This sauce should not be the main sauce but serves to enhance the taste of the salad before placing it on the plate.
- Crumble the feta. For a creamier texture, you can add a tablespoon of yoghurt, taken from the yoghurt used for salad sauce!
- Seed the pomegranate.
- Mix yoghurt, hummus, olive oil, lemon juice and Tahini in a blender. Season with salt and pepper. Adjust the taste if necessary.
- Place the salad on a plate, add the butternut squash strips, chickpeas, pomegranate, sprinkle with feta. Pour the sauce over the whole.
- Enjoy slightly warm.
