After Ramadan (during which time I did not fast, but did eat pakoras for almost 30 days straight) and my sister’s wedding week (during which time I drank lots of wine and ate delicacies such as burgers and cheese fries – it was a classy wedding, I swear), my body was screaming at me to put something green in it. Anything.
So I made this enormous, gorgeous rainbow salad with sweet summer squash, pretty purple cabbage, crisp radishes, juicy tomatoes, creamy queso fresco, toasty pumpkin seeds, the ubiquitous avocado, and this awesome experiment of a roasted tomatillo vinaigrette that came out even better than I had hoped – nailed it! After weeks of crap this salad is a rainbow in my heart.
Summer Squash Salad with Roasted Tomatillo Vinaigrette
- 2 small or 1 large summer squash, thinly sliced into half or quarter moons
- 2 small or 1 large tomatillo, thinly sliced
- olive oil and sea salt for roasting
- 1 small head green leaf lettuce, thickly shredded
- 1/4 head purple cabbage, shredded
- 3 red radishes, thinly sliced
- 2 roma tomatoes, sliced into half moons
- 5 oz queso fresco, crumbled
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
- 1 avocado
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- several sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 tsp honey or maple syrup
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- sea salt & pepper
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Heat oven to 400° F.
Coat squash and tomatillos with a little olive oil and sea salt. Spread squash on one foil-lined baking sheet and tomatillos on another, making sure they are all in one layer. Roast approximately 15 minutes for the squash (until soft, no or little color) and 20 minutes for the tomatoes (until they are just getting starting to get caramelized).
For the vinaigrette: finely chop the roasted tomatillo and mix with garlic, cilantro, honey, lime juice and zest, and red wine vinegar, and season generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle in olive oil while stirring.
Toss together lettuce, cabbage, radishes, tomatoes, queso fresco and pumpkin seeds. Slice or scoop in avocado right before you lightly dress the salad with the vinaigrette (you can serve extra on the side).