Moroccan Squash Salad

magpie diner's Note:

'Tis the Season...lots of squash around. I picked up this recipe from the produce section and made it for a party. It's quite easy to throw together the night before as the flavour improves over night. You could add quite a few other things to this based on what you have on hand, see some optional suggestions. Enjoy!

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 3 lbs butternut squash (aka buttercup squash...bright orange inside)
• 1 cup raisins
• ¼ cup fresh lemon juice
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar (or use a sugar alternative such as agave)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄8; teaspoon cayenne (or to taste)
• ¼ cup fresh parsley , finely chopped
• ½ cup slivered almond , toasted

Optional

• 2 cups cucumbers , diced
• 3 green onions , sliced
• ¼ red onion , minced
• 1 cup radish , diced

Directions:

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water on to boil. Meanwhile, prepare the squash by peeling/cutting off the hard skin. Cut in half and scoop the seeds out, then chop into 1/2 inch cubes. Cook the squash in the boiling water until knife tender, roughly 6-10 minutes. Add in the raisins for the last minute of cooking. Rather than just testing with a knife, take a piece out and try it to be sure you like the consistency. Strain and rinse well under cold water to cool everything down - set aside.
2. Whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, cinnamon and cayenne.
3. Add the cooled down squash and raisins to a large bowl, toss in the parsley, the almonds, any optional ingredients and the dressing. Serve at room temperature. Enjoy!

Reviews

[Lalaloula]

We loved this salad!!!! It was so fresh, spicy, sweet and yummy! The flavour combination of all the different veggies with the marinade was awesome! I used all the optional add-ins and especially enjoyed the crispness of the cucumber with the mellow squash (I used hokkaido in place of butternut). I reduced the oil a tad and left out the sugar due to personal preference.
All in all a wonderful salad recipe that I will make over and over again! YUM!
Made and reviewed for Veggie Swap #28 and the Eating Well Event in the Photo Forum November 2010.
P.S.: I added in a tomato that I needed to use up and it was really good in there, too.

[UmmBinat]

This is a nice fall salad! Do be careful you don't over cook the squash!! I used California raisins & flat leaf parsley. I did use more dark brown sugar than called for & no cayenne per preference here. The optional I used was green onion and it went well! I followed the rest of the non optional ingredients exactly. I may make this again for DH to taste. Made for Veggie Swap 27 ~ October 2010.

[sparkle_eyes]

Delicious! This has a great combination of flavors and is a great fall salad. I took it to a party and got lots of compliments. I roasted the squash instead of boiling it; I cut it into chunks as directed and then put them in a 9x13 pan, and drizzled them with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper. Then they went into a 400F oven for ~35 minutes; I added the raisins for the last five minutes or so. I would not hesitate to make this again!