Roasted Butternut Squash, Red Onion & Purple Potato Salad with Broccoli Rabe and Bacon

Happy Monday!

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Mine was food-centric, although there was very little actual cooking involved.

Saturday, I attended a day-long Celebrating Food event organized by Le Dames d'Escoffier. Not only did I get to hear Sara Moulton, I also took a class on making pasta from Domenica Marchetti and learned how to make avocado soup from Patricia Jinich. Add multiple food samplings, a panel on food writing and Philippine cuisine, and it was one delicious day. {I might do a quick write-up about this later.}

The day ended with chips & salsa and pistachio ice cream with my friend Cecilia.

Sunday, I got together with Eat Write Retreat crew to discuss new and exciting workshops, dining experiences, and speakers that will be part of our food blogging conference in May. Of course, it also involved lunch!

For dinner, I made a quick chicken dish with broccoli and pigged out on guacamole and chips I bought at Whole Foods.

Luckily, I do have a recipe to share with you. I came up with this Roasted Butternut Squash, Red Onion & Purple Potato Salad with Broccoli Rabe and Bacon dish last week and think it's great as a side dish, as an entire meal, or as breakfast if you top it with a fried egg!

What's not to like about the combination of bright orange butternut squash and deep purple potatoes? To make the recipe a bit decadent, I added bacon, but you can leave it out. For some nutritious value, I added broccoli rabe and to liven this dish up, a bit of lemon juice.

Roasted Butternut Squash, Red Onion & Purple Potato Salad with Broccoli Rabe and Bacon

Ingredients

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cubed

5 purple potatoes, scrubbed and cubed

1 red onion, peeled and cut into large segments

olive oil

salt & pepper

3 slices center cut bacon, chopped

4 cups broccoli rabe, cut into bite-size pieces and blanched

1-2 teaspoons lemon juice


Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425F. In a large bowl, drizzle cubed butternut squash, purple potatoes and segmented red onion with olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Transfer to a large baking sheet, making sure the ingredients fit in one layer, and roast for 40 minutes, or until the vegetables are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

2. Meanwhile, cook the bacon until it is crispy, remove from a skillet and let it sit on a paper towel to soak up the extra fat.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine roasted vegetables, crispy bacon, blanched broccoli rabe and lemon juice. Serve warm.

The salad keeps well for several days in your refrigerator. You can either warm it up before serving or eat it cold. If you can't find purple potatoes, feel free to use regular potatoes. If you think broccoli rabe is a bit too bitter for your taste, use regular broccoli. You can also substitute red onion with shallots and experiment with adding various spices or fresh herbs. Make this recipe your own!