Cold weather stirs creativity with Chopped Winter Salad

How often do we read some article about how meaningful it is to cook with the seasons? But winter can test those good intentions.

Try and make a meal out of two rutabagas and a turnip.

But hey, I’m not really that curmudgeonly about winter. I love cold-weather cooking, in fact. And I like a challenge.

In this salad, beautiful, sweet, orange, butternut squash gets roasted with some slightly — but appealingly — bitter radicchio. Roasting sweetens up the lettuce a bit, and the squash too. When cooled, they are mixed with some assertive endive, tart apple and earthy chickpeas.

Chopped Winter Salad

1 pound cubed butternut squash (look for already-prepped squash in the refrigerated produce section)

Salt and ground pepper to taste 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided

use

1 large head radicchio, quartered and cored, and each quarter sliced in thirds crosswise

¼ cup balsamic or red wine

vinegar

2 large heads endive, sliced

cross-wise into ½-inch slices 1 (15½-ounce) can chickpeas,

rinsed

1 green apple, diced

1 cup slivered ricotta salata OR crumbled feta

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place the squash with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on a rimmed baking sheet, season with salt and pepper, and toss well. Spread out into a single layer, and roast for 15 minutes, until almost tender. Remove from oven, add the radicchio, toss again, and spread out again into a single layer. Roast for another 8 to 10 minutes until the squash is tender, but still firm, and the radicchio is wilted. Remove and let cool to room temperature.

In a large bowl whisk together the vinegar, remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, and salt and pepper. Add the cooled squash and radicchio, endive, chickpeas, apple, and ricotta salata or feta, and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

Makes 6 servings.

Katie Workman is the author of Dinner Solved! and The Mom 100 Cookbook.