I see no reason why salads should be limited to greens. This one has a ton of different textures and flavors and is as visually rewarding as it is delicious. Vermont is famous for its fall color, so when I thought of this dish, I wanted all the components to come together on a platter in the same way that autumn leaves fall together in a collage of color on the forest floor. There are bits of roasted squash, blanched squash, pickled squash, and even toasted squash seeds. While I don't like dishes that are so fussy and manipulated they look less like food and more like art, I can't deny that we eat first with our eyes.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375°. Heat the pickling liquid over medium-high heat in a medium saucepan and add the Hubbard squash ribbons. Simmer until tender, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool in the liquid.
Step 2
In a medium-sized roasting pan, toss the kabocha squash wedges with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Roast until tender, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
Step 3
For the dressing, whisk together the vinegar, honey, and grated garlic in a bowl and slowly add the 1/4 cup olive oil until well mixed.
Step 4
Here, our fingers are our best tools. Wash your hands and tear the kale into bite-sized pieces and distribute on a platter. Layer on the pickled Hubbard squash, roasted kabocha squash, blanched delicata squash, and the watermelon radish slices. Drizzle on the dressing, then gently run your fingers through the salad to distribute the dressing without breaking the delicate squash slices. Lace a few slices of ham over the top and scatter the toasted pumpkin seeds and cilantro.
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Reviews (16)
Back to Top"1 kabocha squash" is not an adequate guide. The things range from 2 pounds to 30 pounds! Give us a little detail please!!
Anonymous
11/7/2014
Incredibly beautiful, but unfortunately not particularly good. There's not as much contrast in flavor as you would expect, and it's a bit of a pain considering the payoff.
Anonymous
Charlottesville
10/28/2014
我做了这个沙拉两次,我爱它。值得the extra effort for the range of textures, colors and flavors. Plus it looks ravishing. The adjustments I made to get it to truly balance were all in the timing.Firstly the squash ribbons should not stay in the pickling liquid for more than about 10mins or they get too strong. Secondly the cooking time for the squash depends on its age. The older the squash, the tougher the skin and you should let the tenderness be your guide. For example, 30 seconds was not enough for the Delicata at the first making, second time I cooked it longer and it worked better, but next time I will cut the slices very finely and watch it like a hawk until I get it just 'al dente'. The watermelon radish was too peppery and not juicy- crisp enough for me. I preferred it made with breakfast radishes. But there again the radish I had may have been sitting on the shelf for a while, or may have been grown with too little water. That's the thing about using fresh produce, It's not consistent. Makes every salad a little adventure!
roweusa
Venice, CA
12/21/2013
I made this salad adapted with local ingredients and without the pretentious unnecessary pickling procedure on Saturday night and people were absolutely enamoured. I roasted chunks of coquina squash but any squash you can roast, even sweet potatoes should work fine. I sauteed some mushrooms and instead of Tuscan kale (spare me the air miles please) I went into my garden and picked some wild rocket and the last of the lettuce and some mint and lemon balm and nasturtium flowers. I did use the pumpkin seeds, I did make the dressing and drizzle it on and I did use a wild boar salami on special at Waitrose. Oh, and instead of radishes from 2000 miles away I just used regular radishes. There were loads of different colors and shapes and textures, the squash I just placed in the salad room temperature but the mushrooms I warmed up a bit. It's a beautiful idea and a great starting platter for a dinner party. Just don't be put off by the dumb call for specific kinds of squash or greens, and don't be put off by the pickling liquid. Let this recipe be great and easy.
DomesticExtremist
Cambridge, UK
10/21/2013
I wanted to like this salad. However, it was time consuming and the end result did not justify the time and effort spent. More to the point, the pickled squash ribbons were strange, and the dressing was ordinary. Tastier recipes exist for squash and kale.
rangerchick
Aurora, co
12/17/2012
I wasn't a huge fan of this recipe as it. It was tedious, the skin of the squashes wasn't that good, and I would completely omit the vegetable pickling liquid and replace with either a granny smith apple vinaigrette or a balsamic dressing instead. I would use about half the amount of squash and omit the almost completely. A few very thin almost grated pieces are attractive, but not that good. If you do decide to use the vegetable pickling liquid, I'd recommend keeping the spices in a cheese cloth to remove before adding to the salad. As is the liquid is overwhelming. You can substitute different squashes, but you can't substitute the watermelon radishes. I went to several specialty grocery stores before I found one, but they are worth it. They are beautiful and sweet instead of spicy. With a little bit of tweaking, this salad could be phenomenal- but I won't follow this recipe again.
Missgarceau
Salt Lake City, Utah
12/4/2012
If you click on vegetable pickling liquid it takes you to the link for the recipe :) here it is. 2 cups cider vinegar 1/4 cup sugar 1 tablespoon each mustard seed, black peppercorns, coriander seed, fennel seed, and guindilla pepper 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1 sprig fresh dill 2 cloves garlic Read More //m.fonts4kids.com/recipes/food/views/Vegetable-Pickling-Liquid-395572#ixzz29yxH7y5l
ckgibson
Portland, OR
10/21/2012
where is the recipe for the pickling liquid?
lcfriess
haddam ct
10/12/2012
I personally LOVE to try new ingredients and like when you reviewers offer helpful hints on new variations or substitutions to try and especially love your comments on what works and doesn't. Makes the experience so much richer!
Anonymous
Chicago, IL
10/9/2012
Hey Epi friends, let us be kind. Maybe we have a new, blossoming cook, one that is not fully aware of what lurks beyond the frozen isle...... xoxoxo/me
prst
Montana
10/8/2012
I have to agree with A Cook and the rest of you. I humbly apologize for the fact that I made a comment rather than a review. First day on Epicurious and once burned, twice learned. Will try to make that same mistake again.
Tisheen
10/8/2012
It's not fair to rate a recipe poorly because you can't find the squash. Be resourceful and use what you DO have. I find this recipe ingenious. I LOVE the different textures and flavors and find the fattiness of the pork to be perfect with the acidity of the pickle and crunch of the pumpkin seeds. Will be a great addition to any fall table!
coriecam1
New York, NY
10/8/2012
I agree with Nancy and ACook... Haven't heard of radishes and kale? Why are you even bothering with Epicurious? Get a life! be adventurous! Quit wingeing and make something new (and delicious... go to wikipedia and find out what radishes are!
Anonymous
Guemes Island, WA
10/8/2012
Have to agree with A Cook.
nancypolychron
10/8/2012
Tisheen--that is the stupidest most useless review I have ever seen.
Anonymous
10/8/2012
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