butternut squash & crispy prosciutto salad

I like salads that are room temperature, public health or even a little warm because you can actually taste the ingredients. There’s nothing more unappealing to me than a pre-made, information pills super refrigerated salad from a deli or grocery store. Tomatoes are especially gross when they’re really cold. Not that there are any tomatoes in this salad – I’m just saying…

Anyway, I made a salad last night with freshly roasted butternut squash, which is rather annoying to prepare from a whole squash and so I will be using the frozen cubed kind from Whole Foods from now on. I also crisped up my prosciutto by broiling it in the oven. (I know you’re not supposed to heat/cook prosciutto, but it wasn’t the fancy expensive kind and I wanted something closer to the consistency of bacon.) I used both Arugula and Watercress (for peppery-ness), feta cheese (for tang) and pumpkin seeds (for crunch) then tossed everything in a citrusy Dijon vinaigrette.

I’ve used quite a bit of parentheses in this post, and I’ll try to refrain from doing so in the future (promise).

Citrus Dijon Dressing
1/4 cup walnut oil (or olive oil)
Juice of 1 large lemon (or 2 small lemons)
1 1/2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. honey

Salad Ingredients
2 large handfuls of watercress (hard stems removed)
2 large handfuls of arugula
1 bag of frozen, cubed butternut squash
2 tbsp. olive oil
6 sliced prosciutto
3 oz. feta cheese (I used reduced fat)
1 handful of pumpkin seeds (to top salad)

Preheat the oven to 375°. In the meantime, toss the frozen butternut squash with the olive oil and spread out onto a cookie sheet. Bake the squash for 30 – 40 minutes, or until the pieces are tender.

While the squash is roasting, make the salad dressing by whisking the ingredients together until they’re well-combined. Once the squash is done, broil the prosciutto on a cookie sheet for about 5 – 8 minutes watching the entire time to make sure it doesn’t burn. The prosciutto is ready when the slices are dried out and slightly crispy. Crumble or slice the prosciutto and place all of the ingredients into a large bowl (except for the pumpkin seeds). Dress the salad with as much of the dressing as you like (I used about half the amount that the recipe here yields).

To serve, pile the salad into a bowl, grind some fresh black pepper over it and top with 2 large pinches of pumpkin seeds.