This winter chopped salad is colourful, crunchy and seasonal. 

With roasted sweet potatoes, apple, celery, green onions, roasted grapes, leafy lettuce and tangy sherry dijon vinaigrette, a sprinkle of creamy blue cheese, toasted pumpkin seeds and pecans to top it all off. 

I find in preparing this salad that the slicing and dicing is quite therapeutic. The sweet potatoes and grapes can be roasted in advance. Roasting the grapes is optional, but I guarantee you that by roasting them you will add a load of flavour to the salad. As they roast they soften, caramelize and plump up offering maximum flavour. 

To roast grapes – preheat the oven to 400°F. Put the grapes on a lined baking sheet and toss with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Roast until the grapes burst and get soft, wilted and a little charred, 20 minutes.

The tangy dressing is as easy as it is versatile. It only requires a handful of ingredients, and can be made a few days ahead. In fact, I suggest making a double the batch so you have extra on hand.

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Winter Chopped Salad

Course Salad

Ingredients

For the Salad

• 1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 1 head leafy lettuce or romaine, chopped
• 1 crisp apple, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 cups red grapes, roasted
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds, toasted
• ¼ cup pecans, toasted
• ¼ cup blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh dill, torn

For the Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• ¼ tsp kosher salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
• Toss diced sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper on the prepared baking pan and spread into a single layer. Roast for 25 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender and slightly browned at the edges.
• In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, apples, celery, green onions, pumpkin seeds, pecans, grapes, blue cheese, parsley, dill and sweet potatoes.
• For the vinaigrette, place all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake, shake, shake.
• Drizzle the vinaigrette in the salad before serving.