Roast Pumpkin, Spinach & Feta Salad

I love salads that are a little bit different from the run of the mill garden salad.  Whenever I eat at the cafe below my sisters office, I'm always in awe of the sheer multitude of salads on offer, and how appetizing some of them look - even though I know that some of them are not healthy eating choices, despite being 'salads'.

One of my besties had a bbq last night, and Hubby and I simply couldn't bear the idea of showing up empty handed.  So she kindly shelved one of her salad ideas, and let me bring one instead.

After reading up on some recipes on our favourite www.taste.com.au, Hubby and I opted for our own version of a pumpkin, spinach and feta salad.

We started out by cutting up just over a kilo of butternut pumpkin.  We lightly coated the pumpkin in hot oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary, popped some garlic cloves in the oven tray and the whole lot went into the oven for half an hour.  

At that point, we took the trays out of the oven, drizzled the lot in balsamic vinegar and lemon juice and then put it all back in the oven, whacked up the temperature and let it finish off for about two and a half minutes.  Unfortunately, I clearly don't have suitable drizzling skills and the pumpkin really ended up doused in the vinegar.... but what can you do.  Sure smelled AMAZING in the oven....

 In the meantime, I rinsed off a can of chickpeas, grabbed about 150g of baby spinach and toasted enough pine nuts to cover the bottom of a small fry pan.  When the pumpkin came out of the oven, the balsamic vinegar had kind of caramalised over the top of it, and it took an IMMENSE amount of willpower not to just eat it all straight off the tray (it smelled and tasted that good).

I took the pumpkin pieces off the trays, and put them on a rack so the excess oil would drain off them while I finished preparing the spinach and pine nuts.  Then I put about 1/4 of the pumpkin in a bowl, 1/2 of the spinach, then 1/4 of the pumpkin, the rest of the spinach and then added the pine nuts and chickpeas.  The reason for separating everything up, was to let the spinach wilt a little bit with the heat of the pumpkin.  I let it sit for a few minutes, than gave everything a gentle toss to mix everything together.

Hubby made the dressing for the salad - more balsamic vinegar, the juice from 1/2 a lemon and some salt and pepper.

Just before serving, I diced up a big piece of feta and added it in, then drizzled the dressing over it.  This salad really cannot have been easier to throw together.  All it needed was the time it took to cut up and roast the pumpkin, and let's face it - you don't have to stand over the top of it while it roasts.

My final word?  Proof of the pudding was in the eating.  There wasn't a scrap left by the end of dinner.