31-recipe challenge Day 5: Butternut Panzanella Salad

Can you tell I had to use up my butternut squash? I got the last of the good pieces in just in time to make this yummy, filling salad from A Communal Table. It still wasn’t quite as good as the kale and butternut salad from Day 4, but it was a solid contender, and a good light meal to eat while catching up on two hours of Smash. Also quite a good lunch the next day (just make sure you don’t dress it ahead of time if you’re planning on leftovers.)

I made only three adjustments/modifications to this recipe: 1) I halved it since I was the only one eating it. 2) I left out the mushrooms because I really can’t stand them. And 3) I chopped the shallots for the dressing instead of sliced them because my slices didn’t look good.

Aside from prepping the bread and roasting the squash, this is a pretty quick, simple salad to make. And those croutons are the bomb. Plus, they make your house smell like yummy, toasting bread and who doesn’t like that?

This salad automatically wins in my book if just for one simple thing: marcona almonds. What is a marcona almond, you ask? Well, it’s a Spanish almond that is skinless, smooth and buttery, almost like a cross between an almond and a macadamia nut and it. is. heavenly. Wegmans only had one marcona offering: a small(ish) can of salted almonds. It was pretty expensive for what I got, but it was so worth it–these bad boys are so good! If you ever get your hands on marcona almonds, try them! (Trader Joe’s carries rosemary marcona almonds, which are amazing! But I couldn’t get out there.)

This salad ends the reign of the butternut squash recipes. I burned through them. Don’t think there isn’t a sweet potato or two waiting in the wings still, though.