Warm cranberry & walnut dressed roast veg, apple & blue cheese winter salad

As the winter months wrap you up there’s no need to abandon salad days just spruce them up with a little winter spice and seasonally roast vegetables.

The spice mix I used ‘ground mixed spice’ from my Goodall’s stash came pre-mixed and it’s a combination of cinnamon, coriander, cloves, fennel, ginger and bay leaf.



I’m a huge cranberry sauce fan but funnily enough not with my Christmas dinner.  We buy jars of the stuff at Christmas time and as people only use a little it lasts for ages so I’m delighted to come up with yet another way to use it up in heating it up to warm this salad.

Bramley apples bring sharp and sweet and cook soooo quickly cubed up and roast alongside the turnip in the oven so three minutes is all they’ll need.

You will need:
1 turnip
Rapeseed or olive oil
Ground mixed spice to sprinkle
1 tbsp cranberry sauce + 1 tbsp water
Handful walnuts
Wedge of Wicklow Blue cheese (120g)
1 large bramley cooking apple (225g)
Mixture of baby salad leaves and rocket

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to high (220 fan).
Use a sharp knife to peel the turnip, cut into slices and then into small cubes.
Place the cubed turnip on a baking tray and drizzle with oil then lightly sprinkle over ground mixed spice.
Use your hands to toss and coat the turnip in the oil and spices.
Roast the turnip cubes in the oven for 25 minutes.
Meanwhile heat 1 tbsp of cranberry sauce with 1 tbsp of water in a ramekin in the microwave, mix well and set aside.
Crush the walnuts with a rolling pin and set aside.
Cut the wedge of blue cheese into cubes and set aside.
Peel and cut the bramley apple into cubes and add to the tray of roast turnips after the 25 minutes cooking time, return tray to the oven for a further 3 minutes.
Place the baby leaves and rocket in a large bowl, toss in the cooked turnip, apple and cheese cubes.  Reheat the cranberry sauce for 10 seconds in microwave and use to dress the salad , sprinkle over the walnuts and serve.
Enjoy.
‘Til next time, Sheila.