Roasted Vegetable Salad with Orange, Goats Cheese & Candied Pecans

A vibrant and colourful salad that tick all the flavour and texture boxes for me.

Zesty orange, salty goats cheese, sweet spiced pecans and lots of roasted vegetables make this a stunning salad.

Clear-the-fridge-salad:

I love the fact that you can use ANY vegetables you have! Making this salad the perfect fridge raid salad.

• 1 red pepper, white membrane removed, cut into long thin pieces
• 1 large fennel bulb, trimmed and cut into small wedges
• 200g peeled baby carrots, halved or normal carrots cut into thick batons
• 200g parsnips, peeled and cut into thick batons
• olive oil to drizzle
• salt & pepper
• 1 log goats cheese, cut into thick slices
• 2 small oranges, peeled and cut into segments
• 100g baby leaf salad

Candied Pecan Nuts (makes more than you need)

• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup pecan nuts
• pinch of salt
• pinch of mix spice (opt)

Dressing

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• juice of 1/2 an orange
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1/2 shallot, very finely cut

1. Heat the oven to 200c.
2. Line a large baking tray with baking paper, add the vegetables, drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the preheated oven for 25 minutes until soft and golden.
3. Meanwhile to make the candied pecan nuts, line a small baking tray with baking paper and add the pecan nuts. In a small saucepan on a medium heat, add the water, salt, pinch of all spice and sugar, stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil while stirring continuously until the mixture feels syrupy (see kitchen notes below on how to judge this). Pour the syrup mixture over the pecan nuts, stir well and bake for 5-10 minutes until golden. Remove to cool and roughly chop or keep the nuts whole.
4. Back to the vegetables, after 25 minutes, increase the heat to 220c, add the goats cheese to the tray of veggies and roast until the cheese is golden around the edges, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully place the goats cheese onto a separate plate, lifting with a spatula.
5. To make the dressing add all the dressing ingredients together in a small jar, shake and taste, adding more honey if needed. The dressing should be glossy with a good balance of sweet and tangy.
6. To serve, add the baby leaves to a beautiful platter, tip the roasted vegetables on top of the leaves and add the orange segments and goats cheese. Scatter with 1/2 the pecan nuts and drizzle 1/3 of the dressing. Serve alongside the extra dressing and nuts. Enjoy!

Sugar Syrup: Once the sugar has dissolved bring the mixture to a boil, to know if you have reached a syrup, carefully, rub a tiny amount of syrup mixture between your thumb and index finger, if it starts to feel like vaseline, the mixture has reached the syrup phase.