Clean the Fridge Salad with Fregola Sarda
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
A salad is a great way to clean the fridge. I made a salad big enough for 2 people so you'll need to increase the quantities for the number of people you're feeding.
Author:
Recipe type: Salad
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • ½ cup fregola sarda (or any pasta you have in the pantry)
  • 1½ sweet red peppers (capsicum)
  • 1 head of garlic
  • ½ butternut squash (pumpkin)
  • 5 pickling onions (baby onions) I would have used more but that's all I had
  • ½ cup roughly chopped flat leaf parsley
  • ½ cup small basil leaves thinly sliced
  • 1 bunch of chives snipped
  • zest of one lemon
  • olive oil
  • juice of half a lemon
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper (salt and pepper to taste)
Instructions
  1. Roast the peppers at 210C until blackish and then place in a bowl covered with cling film to sweat the skins off. Set aside til cool.
  2. Peel and chop butternut squash (pumpkin) into ¾ inch pieces and place in a bowl.
  3. To the squash add enough olive oil to coat, kosher salt and pepper and one teaspoon of brown sugar.
  4. Mix and place on baking paper on a baking sheet and roast at 185C til golden brown on the edges but not burnt. About 40 minutes. Set aside to cool.
  5. Once squash is in the oven, cut the bottom off a head of garlic. Fold over a sheet of tin foil and put some olive oil on it and then rub the cut side of the garlic in the oil and then roll to coat the entire head of garlic. Sprinkle kosher salt and then seal the edges and place in the oven with the pumpkin and roast for 40 minutes til soft and caramelized. Remove from oven and let cool. (otherwise you'll burn your fingers getting the cloves out - just sayin...)
  6. Once the garlic is in the oven, peel the small onions and place in a microwave bowl and add a pat of butter and a bit of sea salt. Cover and cook in the microwave for 5 minutes. If the edges are just beginning to caramelize, the onions are done. If not, cook another minute or so til they just start to caramelize. Remove and let cool.
  7. Take the peppers out of the bowl and place on a cutting board and peel off outer skin and discard. De-seed and roughly chop and place in a bowl with the fregola sarda.
  8. Add the squash and then squeeze out the garlic cloves and add the onions.
  9. Roughly chop, tear and snip the herbs and add to the salad.
  10. Carefully mix so you don't mess up the squash, onions or garlic.
  11. Add the zest of one lemon, a slug or two of olive oil (you don't want too much dressing on this salad) and the juice of half of that lemon.
  12. Add just a bit of salt and pepper and give it a final mix and plate it up.
  13. We ate off one plate with two forks - love means less dishwashing.
Recipe by Orgasmic Chef at https://orgasmicchef.com/clean-the-fridge-salad-with-fregola-sarda/