Golden Hour Salad

I am calling this a Golden Hour Salad because, once everything is piled onto the serving dish, the reds, oranges and deep purples look a little like the last hour of sunlight on an autumn day. Or one could think of autumn leaves. Bear with me, I am having a poetic moment.

It all started with the overflow of CSA box vegetables I wanted to roast (Delicata squash, red cabbage, red peppers and cherry tomatoes) and became dinner with the addition of creamy cannellini beans. I considered feta for a salty, tangy note and pepitas for crunch, and both would be very good additions, but in the end I went in a slightly different direction: avocado for richness and crisped-up leftover Gohan Plus for crunch. The thing that pulls it all together is the dressing: some of my homemade preserved lemon paste, combined with the olive oil and juices left behind in the roasting pan.

The result is warm but still very much a salad, albeit it a dinner one, substantial without being heavy, and full of enough contrasting flavors and textures that every forkful is a little different. And, almost incidentally, it packs a lot into one bowl: protein and fiber from the cannellini beans; whole grains, legumes and even more plant diversity from the Gohan Plus; healthy fats, fiber and potassium from the avocado; and a wonderfully varied assortment of vegetables and fermented lemon to keep your gut microbes well fed.

If you don't have leftover Gohan Plus, though I highly recommend that you give the recipe a try. Pepitas make an easy and nutritious substitute for the crunch, and homemade ones are easy and delicious, and feta is still a yummy addition if sodium isn't a concern. But the avocado and crispy Gohan Plus version is the one that ultimately earned its place here.

1 cup red cabbage, roughly chopped

1/2 small Delicata squash

1/4 red pepper

6 cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup canned cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 small avocado

1 1/2 tsps Preserved Lemon Paste or 2 tsps preserved lemon, including rind

1 Tbsp olive oil, divided as needed

1/2 cup cooked Gohan Plus, preferably cold, if using

Preheat the oven to 425.

Toss the cold Gohan Plus with 1 tsp of the olive oil and spread it out on a baking sheet, leaving some small clumps intact. Roast for 12 to 15 minutes, stir, breaking up any very large clumps, and roast for another 8 to 12 minutes, until golden and crisp around the edges. Keep an eye on it toward the end as the smaller grains and lentils can brown quickly. Set aside to cool for ten minutes or so; it will crisp further as it does.

While the Gohan Plus is roasting, scoop the seeds from the delicata squash, leaving the peel on, and cut into slices. Cut the pepper and cabbage into bite-sized pieces. If you feel like it, roast the seeds from the squash and use those in the salad as well.

Toss the squash, pepper and cabbage with the remaining 2 tsps olive oil and spread them out on a baking sheet. Roast for 15 minutes, add the cherry tomatoes, and roast for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender and browned at the edges and the tomatoes have begun to collapse inward.

Remove the vegetables from the oven and add the cannellini beans to the pan, tossing them with the hot vegetables to bring them to room temperature.

Spoon the olive oil and vegetable juices from the roasting pan into a small bowl and add the preserved lemon paste. Whisk to combine. If using preserved lemon rather than paste, add it to a blender or food processor with the pan juices and purée until you have a thick dressing. If your vegetables have not released quite enough liquid, add a teaspoon or two of additional olive oil to make up the difference. If you have either, just use lemon juice and zest. It won't taste quite the same, but it will still be a rocking good salad.

Pour the dressing over the warm vegetables and cannellini beans and toss well. Set aside for five to ten minutes to allow the beans to absorb some of the dressing.

Pile the warm vegetable and bean mix onto your serving dish. Cut the avocado into chunks and add to the top of the salad. Spoon over any remaining dressing from the pan. Scatter the crisped Gohan Plus over the top just before eating so that it retains its crunch. There should be no need for salt as the preserved lemon provides plenty.

This makes a substantial supper for one. If you don't have leftover Gohan Plus, a handful of toasted pepitas makes an easy substitute; feta is also a delicious addition if you are not concerned about adding more salt.