Bits of Carey

J and I have challenged ourselves to eat salad suppers during the week and over the weekend, we eat whatever we like (go “bossies!”). So far it’s going pretty well. Some salads are healthier than others but the main objective is not to eat too many carbs. There are, however, two things that I can not give up and that has to be bacon (the streaky kind of course), it’s like a vegetable in our home. Secondly, butternut, yes it’s basically starch, but in my mind, I feel better because it’s not potato. I also like to use a sharp, flavourful cheese in my salads because in theory, you use less because it’s big on flavour.

In this particular salad, together with the crispy bacon and charred butternut, I also include creamy avo, ripe baby rosa tomatoes and parmesan shavings all on a bed of crisp cos lettuce ( I do this salad with baby spinach too, good stuff!). To serve, simply drizzle with balsamic reduction and parmesan infused olive oil or even a creamy blue cheese dressing. YUM.

Crispy bacon, avo and roasted butternut salad
Serves 4
250 g streaky bacon
500 g cubed butternut,
125 g baby tomatoes
1-2 ripe avos, peeled and cubed
2 heads cos lettuce, roughly torn
Parmesan shavings
Dressing:
Balsamic reduction and olive oil or creamy blue cheese dressing

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Place butternut onto a roasting tray, drizzle with olive oil and season. Roasted for 40 minutes until soft and charred. Set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven grill.
Lay slices of bacon onto a roasting pan and grill until crispy turning once. Allow to cool slighly before assembling salad.
Arrange all the salad ingredients into a serving bowl. Drizzle with dressing just before serving.

TIP: Replace parmesan with feta or goat’s cheese.