roasted squash and cavolo nero salad — proper autumn on a plate

Made this on Sunday and it's been my lunch three days running now. Basically took everything that looked good at the farmers market on Saturday and threw it together — butternut squash, cavolo nero, some red onion, a handful of toasted walnuts. The squash gets roasted until the edges go a bit sticky and caramelised, which takes longer than you think, mind. Cavolo nero I just massage with a tiny bit of rapeseed oil and a pinch of salt — five minutes, honest, and it goes from tough and chewy to something actually pleasant. Then it all goes in together with the walnuts and a dressing that's just apple cider vinegar, a small spoon of wholegrain mustard, rapeseed oil, bit of honey. Nutritionally this is doing quite a lot of work. Cavolo nero is genuinely one of the most nutrient-dense brassicas we have — good source of vitamin K, vitamin C, some calcium too. The research on beta-carotene from squash is pretty solid in terms of bioavailability, and fat helps absorption, so the walnuts and rapeseed oil in the same bowl isn't accidental. Walnuts are also one of the few plant sources of ALA omega-3, which I always think is worth mentioning because people assume you only get that from fish. Rhys looked deeply suspicious of the cavolo nero. Ate the whole bowl.