Roasted Vegetable Salad

This is such a vibrant salad. Considering it is so hot here, even over Christmas, not everyone wants a bowl of hot roasted vegetables. It’s easy to prepare before-hand and features plenty of local and seasonal ingredients. It’s wonderful with turkey, but also makes a great accompaniment to grilled seafood.

Ingredients:

• 500g pumpkin, peeled and cubed
• 1 bunch of radishes
• 5 small beetroots, quartered
• 250g roca (arugula)
• 1 tbsp warm water
• 1 big pinch of saffron
• 1 tsp honey
• coarse salt to taste
• ¼ cup flaked almonds
• 2 tbsp labneh
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• squeeze of lemon
• 1 tsp sumac
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• herbs for garnish (za’atar or coriander)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 190 C
2. Add saffron and honey to warm water and stir to dissolve honey.
3. Place pumpkin, radishes and beets in an oiled roasting pan and pour over honey mix then sprinkle generously with salt. Roast until cooked (about 30-45 minutes depending on the size of the pieces). Set aside to cool
4. Dry-fry almonds until nicely toasted (a couple of minutes, flipping frequently)
5. Combine labneh, olive oil, sugar, lemon and sumac to form a dressing, adding water if necessary to thin, and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Once vegetables are cool, arrange roca on the plate, then top with roasted veggies, then almonds, then splatter dressing in a zig-zag pattern. Finally top with herbs, and some more salt and pepper to taste.