Winter Squash Salad with Seedy Dressing

Hey It's Carla.

I'm here at Studio Commons at Element Hotels

and I'm gonna show you how to make

one of my favorite lunch recipes that I love to eat

when I'm on the road.

This recipe is super nutritious.

It's really nourishing.

It's got a lot of warm spices and the best thing is that

the kitchen at Studio Commons has absolutely everything

I need to pull this together in about 15 or 20 minutes.

Cut into this delicata squash.

And I'm just gonna cut lengthwise.

Scoop out the seeds.

Ironically, I'm gonna put other seeds into the dressing.

So, we have our squash ready to go and the next step

is gonna be browning 'em.

I'm gonna get my pan medium high, hot.

And the only seasoning I'm going to put

on the squash themselves is salt.

I definitely eat for pleasure and I also cook for pleasure

so being able to combine both of those things

when I'm away from home, makes me feel like I am at home.

Now it's hot.

After they're nice and brown I'm gonna just pop 'em

in the microwave for like, three minutes

and that'll cook them the rest of the way through.

A really good color.

That only took about five minutes.

Very exciting for me.

I don't even have a microwave at home.

Cool.

Cook three minutes but they're done.

And I'm just gonna set them over here to cool off

and while they're cooling down I'm gonna make

the spicy seedy mixture.

So I'm using a mix of pepita and sunflower seeds.

Extra-virgin olive oil.

They're gonna change color

and the pepitas are gonna puff up a little bit.

Doing this is infusing them with flavor

and it's also transforming the texture.

Right at the end I'm going to add this spice mixture.

I've got tumeric and paprika and ground cinnamon

and they're just gonna add, like a lot of depth.

And I wanna get 'em out of the pan.

I think anybody staying nearby

would be showing up pretty soon.

Find out what's cookin'.

Okay, so I've got some Greek yogurt,

couple of limes and some arugula.

I'm just gonna squeeze in the juice of one of these limes

giving the yogurt base, like an extra tangy flavor profile,

is gonna almost make it like a dressing.

Gonna stir this together.

So, with these I'm just gonna end up making half moons.

I'm turning them back on that cut side from the beginning.

And this is so much easier to cut

now that they're tender all the way through.

Put some yogurt down on the bottom

and just spoon it onto a big plate or platter.

I love seeing the shape of the squash

and a little bit of green.

The amazing color that I got in the oil,

that's from the tumeric and the paprika.

Arugula, put that over.

And I'm just gonna squeeze some more lime juice over that.

And some more of the seedy mixture on top.

I love this because there's so many colors and textures.

It's cooling but it's warming.

It's filling but it's not heavy.

It's just exactly what you need in the middle of the day.

All right, that's it.

My perfect lunch.

[relaxing guitar music]