Fall and a Salad

September 23, the very first full day of Fall this year, was not particularly cool, and the leaves hadn’t quite turned, and the way that it smelled wasn’t exactly like the smell of a high school football game. If you think, though, that any of that stopped me from incorporating pumpkin into three meals that day, you underestimate how much I love Fall and the most delicious and comforting foodstuffs it brings. If there’s one day of the year you can fully justify living off of Pumpkin Spice Latte alone, it’s the first day of Fall.

Greg and I are on the invitation list for this underground supperclub, Prelude to Staplehouse, run by a husband and wife who put on dinners at their home in anticipation of opening their own restaurant, “Staplehouse.” They send out menus in advance, and in a first-come, first-served manner, choose ten or so diners to come over, eat, drink, and generally be merry. We haven’t made it to a dinner yet, but we have been completely inspired by the advance menus, most recently by this: salad of baby spinach, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries, roasted butternut squash, goat cheese and cinnamon vinaigrette. And so we did just that, as seen here, substituting only arugula for baby spinach.

Salads like this are one of my favorite things to do, because it’s so improvisational. To me, good salads are all a variation of the same theme: green (your lettuce element) + something substantial (the squash, here, or apple, or pear, or asparagus, or green beans) + nut or seed (toasted, always) + cheese (when in doubt: goat) + your vinaigrette, which is also always a variation of the same recipe. I thought a cinnamon vinaigrette was unexpected and so smart. That’s why the Staplehouse folks are in the restaurant business, and I’m in the copycat business.

Recipe follows . . . 

Ingredients

1 butternut squash
Maple syrup
Olive Oil
Pumpkin Seeds
Goat Cheese
Dried Cherries
Arugula
Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt and pepper
Cinnamon
1/2 Shallot, minced

I bought the pre-peeled and pre-cubed squash from Trader Joe’s, because peeling and chopping a giant squash is, to me, not worth the enormous risk of a death by stabbing. If you do use a whole squash, get a super sharp knife and cut the sucker in half. Scoop out the innards and cut it into little half-moons, then toss those with a little olive oil, maple syrup, salt and pepper. Roast those on a baking sheet at 375 for about 20 minutes. After they cool, peel the skins off and cut the squash into little 1/2 inch thick bites, whatever you want for your salad.

To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the minced shallot, 1/4 c. vinegar, a pinch of salt and pepper, 1 tbsp. maple syrup, and 1 tbsp. cinnamon until well-combined, then slowly whisk in 1/2 c. olive oil. Adjust the sweetness (with syrup) or the acidity (with vinegar or oil) to taste. I like to then combine a bunch of arugula with the dried cherries and the pumpkin seeds and lightly dress that with the vinaigrette. Put a pile of that on each plate, then top that with a few slices of roasted squash, liberal crumbles of goat cheese, another scattering of pumpkin seeds, and a pretty drizzle of the vinaigrette. Serve immediately.