My #1 favorite healthy & hearty fall salad with butternut squash, tart cherries and a savory apple cider sage dressing. Gluten free.
My mom loves to clip articles. Newspaper clippings, magazine clippings, stories, recipes – sometimes they come in the mail, sometimes she saves them up for a visit. A couple of years ago she brought me a recipe for a couscous salad clipped from Edible Michiana that was similar to this one. We made it, loved it… then later I lost it. But I could never get this sweet & savory flavor combo out of my mind so I’ve been making versions of it ever since.
The original recipe used couscous but I used quinoa here because it’s the grain I usually have on hand. I tossed it with roasted butternut squash, feta cheese and dried tart cherries for a sweet & tangy pop of flavor. They perfectly balance the warm, savory flavors that are going on here.
While the butternut squash is roasting in the oven, make your dressing. I slightly warm some olive oil and mix in apple cider vinegar, sage, honey and cinnamon. I promise – once you toss the sage in, your kitchen will instantly smell like fall… it’s just so warm and cozy.
butternut squash & tart cherry quinoa
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- 1 small butternut squash, peeled, cubed (about 2 cups)
- 2 big handfuls mixed greens (ie. spinach & arugula)
- ⅓ cup tart cherries
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- ¼ cup chopped chives
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- a few leaves of fresh sage, chopped
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon honey (vegan sub: maple syrup)
- salt & pepper
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cook quinoa - rinse ½ cup quinoa then transfer to a small pot and toast the quinoa for a few minutes (basically until it’s dry again) over medium heat. Add just over 1 cup of water, cover and bring to a boil then reduce to simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes, then turn heat off and let it sit (covered) for 15 more minutes. Check at some point before the end to make sure it’s not burning - if is starting to - stir in a little more water and probably reduce heat. (Note that I usually cook double this amount and save some for later). Set quinoa aside until ready to use.
- While your quinoa is cooking, roast your butternut squash. (remove the guts of the butternut squash (save the seeds to toast for later if you want). Peel and slice into 1-inch cubes. Toss with a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown, flipping halfway through.
- In a small saucepan, gently heat olive oil (it has a low smoke point so you don’t want to heat it too much. If you’re concerned about this use grape seed oil instead). Add the sage and stir until fragrant (30 seconds or so - just until the sage is not raw). Turn off heat and add apple cider vinegar, cinnamon, honey, salt & pepper.
- Assemble all salad ingredients together and toss with as much dressing as you like. Taste and adjust seasonings.
recipe inspired by this recipe from Edible Michiana.
I’d love to try making a tart cherry, caramelized onion and gruyere rice flour pizza! Thanks for all of the inspiration!
Thanks for the chance to win! I love this recipe with dark cherries. Dark Chocolate, Cherry and Chia Bark. http://www.loveandzest.com/2014/08/dark-chocolate-cherry-chia-bark.html
Looks delicious and perfect for fall! As it gets colder, I think a warm tart cherry rice pudding would be amazing. Might start making this now…
Tart cherry and goat cheese ice cream topped with walnuts 🙂
Because of the sweet-tart flavour of the tart cherries, it would be really fun to play with sweet-savoury dishes. i think you could make a really tasty tart cherry glaze (with brandy or calvados!) for grilled chicken breasts… Mmmmm I might just have to try that out.
Ha ha, my mom does the same thing. She removes pages from cooking mags and sends them in the mail to me. All the way from NH to WA! There have certainly been a few gems in there. This salad looks gorgeous. All my favorite things!
Ooh, I love this feta, tart dried cherry and butternut squash combo. Who knew those clippings would pay off!
How about a tart cherry wine to pair with a nice cherry pie!
I am new to the blog, but this sound great. I will have to go out an get some tart cherries. — Thanks
I’m the kind of person who gets “inspired” by recipes, rather than following them to the letter. When I think of dried tart cherries, I think of pork. I love pick and fruit. So if I had nice thick pork chops and dried tart cherries…I would season the pork with some truffle salt and ground black pepper and throw them on the grill. In the meantime, I’d be in the kitchen reducing my favorite fig balsamic vinager and plumping up some dried tart cherries in that yumminess. The butternut squash would make a good base, roasted, for the chops and resultant sauce. And it wouldn’t be complete without a sprinkling of toasted pistachios. 🙂
Um…that’s PORK and fruit…
My kids and I love putting tart cherries is homemade granola. Thanks for the giveaway! 🙂
Cherry chocolate espresso power/granola bars! Dates, walnuts and/or pecans ohhhhh or pistachios, dried cherries, chunks of chocolate, and a dusting of espresso powder. Yum!
At whole foods the other day they were handing out samples of almond milk ice cream with frozen tart cherry juice on top sprinkled with some chia seeds. It was incredible!
This sounds sublime!! I have been looking for a sweet/savory fall quinoa recipe and this fits the bill! I can’t wait to prepare this with an herbed roasted pork tenderloin.
One of my favorite uses for tart Michigan cherries is to add them in with Granny Smith apples in my Apple Puff Pastry Streudel – yum! Sweet and tart!
I am thinking that Tart Cherries and Chicken breasts baked together would be very good. Like in a reduced sauce. Or even Walnut and tart cherry bread….Or just straight up eating dried tart cherries out of the bag, cause I’m quilty!
tart cherry studded roasted apples dusted with cardamom and crushed pistachios with a tart cherry juice infused coconut cream drizzled on top 🙂 Cherries are my favorite, favorite, favorite.
I’m thinking I’d chuck some of those tart cherries in my overnight oats, along with some cacao nibs, cocoa powder, coconut flakes, and coconut milk. Then they’d get all happy and plump…DElicious!!!!! 🙂
I love tart cherries!! I am thinking about doing dark chocolate and tart cherry muffins, or tart cherry and walnut brussel sprouts. The possibilities are endless!
I think tart cherries with string beans in a shallot vinaigrette would be delicious.
I think chart cherries would go well in an ice cream/brownie combo.