Spinach and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Mushroom Bacon & Vegan Feta
This vibrant salad is full of delicious earthy flavours. Made with smoky mushroom bacon and lots of iron-rich spinach and parsley, as well as sweet roasted red onion and butternut squash balanced out by salty vegan feta.
While the oven is heating up, start on the mushrooms. Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Then add the sliced mushroom to the marinade and stir around gently until all are covered. It may look like there is not enough marinade for the mushrooms but you’ll be amazed that in a few minutes the juices start to release and you can stir again and it will all mix in easily. Now leave the mushrooms to marinade while you start on the squash.
Peel and chop the butternut squash into quite large pieces (the smaller the cubes, the sweeter it will be in the salad because there will be more caramelised edge bits). Peel the onions and chop off the ends then cut into quarters. Put the squash and the onion into a roasting tin and sprinkle over the olive oil, dried oregano, ground cumin and a large pinch of salt. Mix it all together with your hands then put the roasting tin in the oven. Roast for half an hour at 200°C.
300 g butternut squash, 3 red onions, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, ¼ teaspoon ground cumin, a large pinch of salt
After 30 mins, toss the squash and put back in the oven. Lay a piece of baking paper on a baking tray and, with a slotted spoon, carefully take the mushrooms out of the marinade and lay on the baking paper in a single layer. (Try not to get too much of the marinade mixture onto the baking tray as, the more liquid there is, the longer it will take to evaporate off.) Pop the tray in the oven with the squash, turn the oven down to 180°C and roast for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, turn the pieces of mushroom over and add the pumpkin seeds to one end of the tray then pop the tray back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes. (Or if you prefer, you can toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium high heat, stirring and tossing constantly until they start to pop and brown a little).
a small handful pumpkin seeds
Meanwhile, make the dressing by putting all the dressing ingredients into a small jar and shaking vigorously (or whisking together in a small jug). You can wash and dry the spinach and chop the parsley at this point too.
120 g baby leaf spinach, 20 g flat leaf parsley, 3 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, ¼ teaspoon dijon mustard, a small grating of nutmeg, salt and pepper
When the mushrooms are dried out, take the mushroom tray and the butternut squash tray out of the oven (the butternut squash is very forgiving and will sit in the oven for however long you want it to without too much fuss so it can wait until the mushrooms are ready). Tip the mushrooms onto a piece of kitchen towel to cool and crisp up a bit while you assemble the salad.
Put the spinach leaves and parsley in a big bowl. Dot the butternut squash and red onions around and add little knobs of vegan feta cheese, then sprinkle the mushroom bacon and toasted pumpkin seeds all over the top. Drizzle the dressing on and toss together well. Serve immediately once the dressing is added or, if you want to make it ahead, hold off on the dressing until you’re ready to serve.
40 g vegan feta cheese
Notes
See the blogpost for tips on what to do with the leftover roasted squash and you probably won't need it all but it's worth roasting it all together in any case.
Cooking the mushroom bacon is not an exact science so it might take slightly more or less time depending on the width of your mushroom slices and the marinating time. They need to cook until they have dehydrated and take on a texture like crispy bacon. It takes about 18-25 minutes but they will also crisp up more after they come out of the oven.
If making ahead or to take somewhere, keep the dressing separate and mix together just before serving.