Roasted Butternut Salad with Spinach, Avocado and Tahini Dressing

As I've reached the end of my pregnancy, I've run out of steam as far as the kitchen is involved. It's not that I haven't been cooking, I just haven't had my typical enthusiasm and motivation. We've had some very simple dinners, quite a few old standbys and a handful of meals that wound up just so-so.

Recently, completely uninspired, I diced up some sweet potatoes and popped them in the oven to roast, figuring it would give me time to decide what else I wanted to make. But once they were finished, the best I could come up with was an extremely simple salad. (Luckily, my family really likes sweet potatoes and salad, so no one complained.) At one point of the meal, I tossed some of my potatoes on top of my salad...and well, it was pretty fantastic. The warm roasted sweet potatoes with the salty feta and creamy avocado and the tangy Lemon-Tahini dressing- somehow that odd combination really worked.

So much that a week later I was wanting it again. I didn't have any more sweet potatoes, but I had a butternut squash. Instead of the bottled dressing I'd use the first time, I made a homemade version (based from this recipe) and scaled the simple salad back even more. It was a little different, as the butternut is a less starchy and the dressings weren't quite the same, but it was just as yummy. Sage liked it in a "perfect for a side dish" kind of way, while I was content for it to be my meal. But I'm more of a salad lover than he is anyhow. I wasn't going to blog it though, since the picture is nothing too special, (I missed the good light) however, after eating the cold leftovers yesterday and loving it all over again, I decided I needed to after all.

Roasted Butternut Salad with Spinach, Avocado and Tahini Dressing
serves 3-4

for the dressing:
1 large clove garlic, minced
juice from 1 small lemon*
2-3 tbsp tahini*
1 tbsp water
1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium butternut squash (about 2.25 lbs), peeled and diced
1 tbsp olive oil
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
8 cups loose packed baby spinach (any tough stems removed)
1/4 cup crumbled feta (I'll bet goat cheese would be good too!)
1 1/2 Haas avocados, diced or sliced
thinly sliced red onion, soaked in ice water for 10 minutes, to garnish (I used a couple tbsps worth)

Preheat oven to 400. Toss squash with 1 tbsp olive oil and a few pinches of salt and several grinds of pepper on a baking sheet. Roast for about 20-25 minutes or until squash is tender, flipping half way through. Remove from oven.

While squash is roasting, prepare the dressing by combining the garlic and lemon juice. Whisk in the tahini. Next whisk in the water and olive oil. Set aside.

Once squash is done, toss with a little more than half of the dressing and set aside.

Assembled salad by arranging spinach in serving bowl and layering with warm butternut squash, avocado and feta and garnish with (well-drained) red onion. Serve remaining dressing on the side.

*I had a very juicy lemon apparently, which produced a 1/4 of a cup of juice, instead of the typical 2-3 tablespoons I'd normally get from a small lemon. Since the brand tahini I bought this time is a little more mild, I added an extra tablespoon of it. My resulting dressing tasted rather tart straight from the bowl, but once on the salad, it did not. Depending on the amount of juice your lemon provides and the strength of your tahini, you may wish to start with less tahini and add to taste.