Soul food salad

Auckland cafe owner Fran Mazza. PHOTOS: SUPPLIED

Auckland cafe owner Fran Mazza is a half-Italian pastry chef and mother of three who has a commitment to producing high-quality, accessible food in welcoming environments.

Soul food salad with walnut pesto and blue cheese

This salad is great at a BBQ, instead of just roasted vegetables. Whenever we get invited to a BBQ I always think about the salads I’m going to take before I think about the protein. A bunch of yummy wholesome salads can really add wonders to a sometimes overwhelming amount of meat.

Preheat oven to 190°C.

Serves 4–6

Ingredients

2 large orange kumara, peeled

2 carrots, peeled

2 parsnips, peeled

90ml olive oil

handful of thyme

1¼ cups walnuts (for salad and dressing)

½ cup pumpkin seeds

½ cup sunflower seeds

2 cups baby spinach leaves

150g creamy blue cheese, crumbled

handful of chopped Italian parsley

Pesto dressing

1 cup basil leaves, washed

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan

½ cup olive oil

½ cup aioli (see page 253)

Method

FEED ME FEED ME Fran Mazza Random House RRP $50

Cut kumara, carrots and parsnips on an angle into 3cm pieces. Spread each type of vegetable over a separate roasting tray, drizzle each with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and scatter thyme over. Using your hands, toss the vegetables until evenly coated in oil. Roast each vegetable in the oven until golden brown and cooked through, turning them once or twice during the cooking time. When done, remove thyme stalks and leave to cool.

While veges are baking, place walnuts on an oven tray and bake for 5–10 minutes or until nicely toasted. Set aside to cool.

Place pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan and toast over a medium heat until very lightly browned. Tip out on to a plate to cool and repeat for the sunflower seeds.

For the pesto dressing, place basil, parmesan and ¼ cup of your toasted walnuts, along with some salt and pepper, in a food processor and pulse until combined.

With the processor running, slowly add oil until the pesto is well blended but still liquid enough to drop off a spoon.

To assemble the salad, place cooled roasted vegetables in a large bowl, add remaining toasted walnuts and seeds, baby spinach and blue cheese. Mix pesto with aioli, pour over salad and mix gently until evenly coated in dressing. Place in your favourite salad bowl and garnish with parsley.