Roast Pumpkin and Fetta Salad

This is a variation of a salad I had in Melbourne years ago at a Café with Aunty Jane. I wrote the ingredients on a napkin at the time and have made it a few times since, each varying a little from the last.

It is quick to make and can be prepared a head of time, or assembled just before you eat.
Depending on how you are feeling, you can either combine everything together or layer it on individual plates.

This time I did individual portions a little differently. June, my step-mother-in-law, asked me to make this salad as entre for Christmas lunch, and assemble it in some plastic tubes she had had made using PVC piping.

This is what I used:
Baby spinach and rocket mixed
Butternut pumpkin, diced and roasted
Fetta, crumbled
Mediterranean stuffed olives, sliced
Red onion, finely chopped
Basil leaves, shredded
Slithered almonds, dry toasted
Balsamic vinegar, caramelised with a little brown sugar

Plastic tubes (about 10cm diameter x 10cm tall)

Place a clean tube on each individual plate.
Put a small handful of the spinach mix in the bottom of the tube.
Add the roast pumpkin as the second layer in the tube.
Lay a few slices of olives on the pumpkin then sprinkle with the crumbled fetta (I use a mild one so it’s not too over powering).
Add the red onion and basil leaves then very gently poke it down, not to squash any of the ingredients but to help it settle a little.
Sprinkle the toasted almonds on top then drizzle the caramelised balsamic over the almonds.

If the balsamic has cooled and thickened too much, just gently heat it back up and it should liquefy again.

To serve, gently lift the tubing away so the salad is left standing.

Bon appetit!