Roasted Thanksgiving Salad

• annokset: Feeds 4 as main Feeds 6

Ainekset

1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 pound parsnips, * peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces

1 small red onion, diced

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 cup quinoa rinsed in cool water and drained**

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh sage

(about 4 medium leaves)

1 small apple, preferably Gala or

Honeycrisp, cut into ¼-inch pieces

3 ounces roasted pepitas

Ohjeet

1. Heat the oven to 425°F.

2. Toss the sweet potatoes, parsnips and red onion with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 1 teaspoon of the salt, and spread evenly onto two half sheet pans. Roast for 15 minutes, then toss the vegetables, rotate the pans and roast for another 10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and golden brown. While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the quinoa.

3. Bring 2 cups water and ½ teaspoon of the salt to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan. Whisk the rinsed quinoa into the boiling water, add the cinnamon, cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove from the heat and cool, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

4. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil, the vinegar, maple syrup, mustard and the remaining ½ teaspoon salt in a small canning jar. Cover and shake the dressing like a martini to emulsify.

5. Toss the warm vegetables, quinoa, thyme, sage and dressing together in a large bowl. Add the apple and pepitas just before serving warm or at room temperature.

Muistiinpanot

This may be the most nutritiously sound recipe in this book. In fact, if I had to pick one recipe from this book to live on for say a month, it would be ... Chocolate Chess Pie (page 193)! Just kidding. It would be this. After all, quinoa delivers a complete protein, and sweet potatoes and parsnips deliver just about everything else. And then there are the pepitas, which are packed full of micronutrients, and as you know, doctors hate apples. By the way ... this is what Thanksgiving tastes like.

* Larger parsnips can have a tough woody core toward their top end, which 18 not ideal for roasting. Chop the skinny root end into rounds, then cut around the core and chop the remaining sides into ¼-inch cubes.

** Rinsing the quinoa before cooking removes the grain's natural coating (saponin) that would otherwise leave the stuff tasting bitter or soapy. So, don't skip that part!