Summer Salad Recipe

Heather grew these beautiful herbs in her garden and used them in this summer salad recipe!  Herbs are a fantastic source of polyphenols which have been shown to have immune-modulating function.

These plant compounds also have anti-microbial substances which help regulate your gut bacteria.

Serves 4.

Cooking time 40 minutes, hands on time 15 minutes

Summer salad ingredients 

1 small butternut squash, cut into thin wedges (no need to peel)

½ tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp smoked paprika (optional)

Any green leaves and herbs that you like

½ red onion, finely sliced

Tin chickpeas, drained

Handful pomegranate seeds (optional)

Handful sunflower seeds / walnuts, lightly toasted is desired

2 tbsp. orange juice

1 tbsp. cider vinegar

¼ red chilli, finely sliced (optional)

5 tbsp. walnut oil or extra virgin olive oil

Directions

• Preheat oven to 200C
• Place butternut squash in a bowl and toss with olive oil and smoked paprika
• Place in oven and roast for 30 – 40 minutes, until well cooked. Allow to cool
• Place leaves, onion, chickpeas on a serving platter. Top with roast squash wedges and sprinkle over pomegranate and sunflower seeds and season.
• Mix orange juice, vinegar, chilli and walnut oil to make a dressing and drizzle over salad

Health benefits of some of the ingredients

• The butternut squash, spinach, red onion and pomegranate are all good sources of beta carotene and vitamin C as well as fibre
• The sunflower seeds are rich in vitamin E
• Walnuts and walnut oil contain omega 3
• Chickpeas are a good source of fibre to support gut health