Recipes: Delicata Squash Sunshine Salad from Will Frolic for Food

Posted by Claire Ragozzino

One of the greatest parts of food blogging is being able to connect with incredible artisans, makers and culinary creators  from around the world.  And if there’s one thing I’ve seen in this community – there are some seriously talented women out there shaping the way we eat, think, and feel about food! This year, I decided to launch a new series on the Vidya blog to highlight some of the kitchen goddesses out there who inspire me each day with their ingenuity of ingredients and artful presentation of nourishing cuisine.  This monthly “Seasonal Recipe Share” series will give us a peek inside each bloggers home recipe box and the many ways they each connect with their health through seasonal eating and living.

To kick off this series, I’ve asked a special guest hailing from the Blue Ridge Mountains, Renee Byrd of the brilliant Will Frolic for Food, to share what nourishes her in the deep winter month of January.  Renee’s blog is poetry for the heart and belly, her words paint a story that’s just as rich as the recipe itself.  “I believe that art and the making of food don’t have to be separate. I’m inspired by the impermanence of the final dish and the pleasure of the process. Finding moments of joy in the steady chopping of onions and garlic; Feeling your brain light up with wonder at an orchard blanketed in rich, ripe, wine-colored apples; Capturing a feeling with your camera; The strangeness of styling food to look beautiful — even that is entrancing.”  Welcome Renee….

Hey there! Renee Byrd here from Will Frolic for Food. Claire has so generously invited me to share a recipe with you all today. I don’t know about you, but when the Winter presses in on us, all blustery and glimmering with frost, it’s a challenge for me to eat raw green foods. I pretty much won’t. Most of my meals end up hot. Hot soup, curry, steamed veg, roasted roots or some healthy variation on comfort food. Which is all well and good. But there are days when my body is telling me it needs raw greens. And I’m still essentially stomping my foot and digging in because the idea of eating something cold on a cold day makes me shiver.

So, as a compromise, I came up with this delicata squash spinach salad recipe with a miso sriracha dressing. Warm, filling, nourishing, with lots of bright, sunshiny, yellow vegetables, it’s a great way to get in your greens despite the cold. It makes me feel like sunshine is emanating out of my skin after eating it. Yes, that’s really how I feel about this salad.

DELICATA SQUASH SUNSHINE SALAD WITH MISO SRIRACHA DRESSING