This recipe comes from “Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics,” page 88

The second of three recipes that I made on Friday was the side dish.

I decided to complement my main dish and the dessert, I wanted a nice Fall-themed salad. So, I found a salad that used both butternut squash and apple cider! Perfect!

Granted, I ended up serving this a bit differently than called for. The vinaigrette ended up being cool, not warm, but I’m not really sure I would like a warm dressing anyway.

Despite this dressing tasted yummy and complemented the roasted butternut squash, walnuts, and dried cranberries in the salad. I also discovered that arugula is NOT my favorite lettuce, so I may end up having to switch it out in the future. It seems like Ina uses arugula quite often.

If you are interested in making this dish, be warned that if you add the cranberries to your roasting pan for the last 5 minutes, like the directions state, you may end up with some burnt cranberries on your tray. But! It’s totally worth it. Who knew roasting dried cranberries would bring out the flavor??

Sadly, I do not have any photos of this salad…or even the main course. I get too excited to eat the things I make that I sometimes forget to snap a pic!

Please forgive me.