Butternut Squash Salad with Feta

This Butternut Squash Salad with Feta makes a simple yet show-stopping appetizer that’s perfect for fall gatherings. Roasted butternut squash, left with its skin on for shape, turns tender and nutty with a hint of sweetness. Salty feta crumbles and crunchy pistachios balance its flavor beautifully. To finish, juicy pomegranate arils add a burst of color and freshness, making every bite both vibrant and comforting!

Kid-Friendly Squash

I leave the rocket salad behind for the kids and serve them the squash with all the other ingredients, including balsamic glaze; they love it! It becomes a simple squash steak and is easy to pair with lovely tuna croquettes or zucchini fritters to make a whole dish!

A Comforting Appetizer

Butternut Squash has this unexplainable way of smoothing the mood, maybe in its creaminess, sweetness, or both, but nothing calms you more than this veggie! There are zillions of ways to make it, especially remarkable in soups but rarely appreciated in salads. If you roast them, they become nuttier than boiled strangely. I like to put them on the grill directly to give them these burn stripes we all love to see. Also, keep the skin; otherwise, the squash won’t hold and get saggy. We want the butternut to shine, similarly treated like meat is on a plate: the centrepiece! Bring out the butter knives to eat this one!

Feta Cheese to Counter Balance

Salty, crumbly, and easy to pair, Feta is the perfect ingredient to calm down the often too-sweet Butternut Squash. There is nothing like a perfect balance. Sweet and Salty are the protagonists of the Appetizer. The salad wouldn’t work without the cheese; it would work without all the other ingredients but not the feta. Another element could calm the sweet squash, like a spicy or acidic one, but we chose a sweet and salty approach over here. A famous duo!