Cold Weather Salad

I love how you feel when you taste the food of the season! It hits my mind and heart like the delight of opening a Tiffany box on Christmas morning! Or any day, for that matter. Watermelon in winter is somehow unsatisfying as hot stew is wrong for summer. I stumbled upon a recipe for a cold weather salad that astonishes me every time I taste it.

The salad consists simply of roasted vegetables tossed with greens and splashed with a mustard vinaigrette. I roast the vegetables separately so that they'll keep their distinct flavors. As I finished mixing them together hot out of the oven yesterday, I scooped a spoonful for myself and practically swooned to the floor! This salad has the richest, most luxurious flavor to pair with a more gentle entree---like roasted chicken or a sausage/sauerkraut/boiled potato dinner. I'll come back to this salad over and over again, and I'm sure you will too:

Each serving of salad will require about 1/4 cup of roasted vegetables, so you can vary the quantity based on your serving needs.

Chop broccoli and tomatoes. Line a pan with foil and toss each vegetable separately with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Drain a can of white beans (cannelini, Great Northern) and rinse with cold water.

Combine the vegetables with the beans and toss.

Combine a large handful of greens with 1/4 cup of roasted vegetable/bean mixture per person, and toss with a pinch of salt and pepper, and mustard vinaigrette.

MUSTARD VINAIGRETTE
Vinaigrette is a 2 to 1 ration of oil and acid (like vinegar or citrus juice)

ex.: 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar

For mustard vinaigrette, mix the ratio and add a scoop of mustard to taste. The smaller quantity above would need 1 tsp and the larger, 1 Tbsp.

Shake it up in a jar, use what you need, and keep the rest in the refrigerator. It keeps well for about 2 weeks.

NOTE: The broccoli, tomato, and beans are important to this salad for the power of their flavor. I keep those three as the start, but have added roasted pumpkin (or any squash cubes), pearl onions, carrots, mushrooms, potato. You just roast any of these with the olive oil, salt, and pepper.