This butternut squash salad is meant to be the main event. It’s not meant to be a side to anything! From the moment I came up with this combination (inspired by two salads in a recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens: Caramelized Squash Salad with Pistachios and Goat Cheese and the Pear and Potato Salad with Sausage)……… I couldn’t wait to make it…and eat it.
This salad exceeded my expectations and I look forward to making it again and again, and try different sausages, maybe some fennel or thinly sliced apples. The variations for this salad could keep me inspired for a while, but on this day, the dressing was a blood orange/maple/ginger (from the squash salad above); the greens a combo of frisee and romaine; and the caramelized squash and roasted sweet Italian sausage; and topped with slivered red onion and goat cheese.
It was an explosion of flavors with every bite – a wonderful balance of sweet and savory that I literally…could not stop eating. I finished this whole bowl in record time…and I wanted more.