Roasted fall butternut squash salad is a hearty, savory, and fabulously easy dinner or side dish. When cooking vegetable-forward dishes or meals, I want them to be satiating and delicious. This salad maximizes flavors and textures from the ingredients by simply roasting or boiling the main ingredients. The roasted squash and onions have concentrated flavor and umami-packed browned bits while the cooked French lentils add a creamy and hearty bite. Dill + red wine/sherry vinegar give this salad a pop of brightness, and a generous drizzle of lovely olive oil adds some luxury and opulence. Serve this salad d’automne with some crusty sourdough bread for an easy and delicious fall meal.

Recipe Type: Vegan Meal or Side

Time: 1 hour

Servings: 4 as a side 2 as a main

Ingredients

Two cups of cubed butternut squash (1 small whole squash)

½ cup French lentils (lentilles du puy)

8 small onions (such as cippolini or spring onions if available) or 1 yellow onion

A handful of fresh dill and chives (sage can be a great substitute)

1 tablespoon maple syrup

Salt and pepper

Red wine or sherry vinegar

1 clove of garlic

Neutral oil (grapeseed or sunflower)

Olive oil

Equipment

2 Baking sheets

Y Vegetable peeler

Medium or small pot

Knife and cutting board

Fine Mesh Sieve

Parchment paper

One medium or large mixing bowl

Microplane

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400℉ or 205℃. Prepare the squash by cutting off the top and bottom of the squash, peel the squash with a sharp vegetable peeler, discard the peels, then cut the squash lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds (you can clean and roast them to snack on if you’d like), and dice the squash into ½ inch pieces.
Toss the diced squash in 2 tablespoons of neutral oil, a generous sprinkle of salt, and maple syrup. Place on an even layer on a parchment sheet lined baking sheet and set aside.
Clean the onions by removing the skins and trimming off the roots. Cut into halves or quarters if you have small onions or dice a large one into 1 inch cubes.
Toss in one tablespoon of neutral oil and a generous pinch of salt. Place on another parchment paper lined baking sheet cut side down.
Roast the squash and onion for about around 30-45 minutes until the squash becomes tender browns at the edges and the onions char on the edges. Give the squash and onions a stir in the middle of cooking to promote even roasting and change the position of the vegetables in the oven.
Bring a medium or small pot of water to boil. When boiling, add lentils and lower to a simmer. Cook gently until the lentils are tender (around 30-40 minutes). Taste them to test for doneness.
When they are cooked to your liking, drain the lentils in a sieve and add them to the mixing bowl.
While the vegetables are roasting and the lentils are cooking, wash the dill and chives and set aside. Reserve a few dill fronds for garnish.
Once the vegetables have roasted, place them into the mixing bowl with the lentils.
Chop the dill and chives and add to the mixing bowl.
Grate one clove of garlic with a microplane directly into the bowl (if you don’t have a microplane finely chop the garlic after chopping the herbs). Add two glugs of olive oil and about one tablespoon of red wine or sherry vinegar for acid. Add freshly ground pepper and season with salt to taste.
Garnish with dill fronds and serve warm or at room temperature with some crusty sourdough bread.

It's cauliflower season, and I want to be more inclusive to my vegan readers and share a fabulous sandwich that's easy to scale up or down for a quick dinner or a feast with friends. I like to roast a whole cauliflower broken into florets to concentrate the cauliflower's flavor. When roasted, the cauliflower will get browned and crispy on the edges and soft and tender in the center. Before preparing the ingredients, I make the dough for homemade chapati, a flatbread that my friend Maya taught me how to make (check out her Brika recipe). While the dough is rising, I cook the cauliflower and assemble the vegetables for the sandwich. When it's time to eat, I cook the bread, and place everything on the table to serve family style so that everyone can help themselves: a large plate of veggies for garnishing (and texture), the roasted cauliflower, warm bread, tahini dressing, olive oil, harissa, and salt/pepper. To make this sandwich into a feast, simply serve with a large green salad, houmous, and eggplant caviar/baba ganoush with some sliced carrots and cucumbers for dipping.

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Recipe Type: Vegan, Sandwich

Time: 1 hour

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 large head of cauliflower

1 lime or lemon

2 cloves of garlic

Red onion

Cucumber

¼ head of crispy lettuce of your choice

Harissa or any other hot sauce of your choosing

½ cup of tahini

Olive Oil

Neutral oil (I use sunflower or grapeseed)

Salt and pepper

Any combination of fresh tender herbs; I love to use dill, scallions, mint, and cilantro or parsley

2-3 pieces of flatbread for each person

Equipment

Baking sheets

Food processor

Microplane

Instructions

Prepare Bread

If you're making homemade bread, prepare the dough before cooking the cauliflower.

Roast Cauliflower

Preheat the oven to 400℉ or 205℃.
Remove the outer green leaves of the cauliflower, and cut the cauliflower into approximately two-inch florets. I like to keep the stem and slice it into ¼ inch disks and roast them with the florets.
Wash and drain cauliflower.
Place the drained cauliflower into a large bowl and add 2-3 tablespoons of neutral oil, a generous sprinkle of salt. Toss to coat, and place in an even layer on a baking sheet. Roast until browned at the edges and tender when pierced with a knife (20-40 minutes depending on your oven).
Remove cauliflower and pour a couple of tablespoons of olive oil on top and add a splash (around 1 teaspoon) of acid red wine vinegar or lemon/lime juice. Toss to combine. When ready, place the cauliflower in a serving bowl covered in foil to keep warm.
You can prepare the cauliflower ahead of time and keep warm in the oven at 200℉ or 95℃.

Mise en Place and Garnishes

While the cauliflower is roasting, assemble the rest of your ingredients and set up your mise en place.

Wash lettuce and herbs.
If necessary, Trim dead parts off of the herbs and place onto a serving plate.
Cut lettuce into thin slices horizontal to the root to make shredded lettuce or shrettuce and add to a serving plate.
Peel the red onion and slice into half-moons, slice cucumbers into rounds or half-moons, and if you have scallions, cut into ⅛" pieces. Place on a serving plate.
Roughly chop 2 cloves of garlic and set aside.
Roughly chop a little bit of all the herbs you're using so that you have around ¼ cup for the tahini dressing.

Prepare Tahini Dressing

In a food processor, add the 2 cloves of roughly chopped garlic, and pulse a few times to mince.
Add ½ cup of tahini, ½ teaspoon of lemon zest, and the juice of ½ a lemon or lime, and the chopped herbs.
While running the food processor, drizzle in around ¼ cup of water (more or less depending on how loose you want your dressing) to make a silky dressing.
Season with salt, pepper, and more citrus juice if you want it to be more tart.
If you don't have a food processor, you can whisk the ingredients together (make sure to mince the garlic rather than roughly chop)

How to Serve

Before serving, heat the bread on a pan or in the oven. Place in a clean kitchen towel in a shallow bowl or plate to keep warm. Set all the veggies, herbs, and dressing, and harissa on the table to let guests assemble their own sandwiches.