Autumn is truly here.  Most days are bright and sunny days but with a little chill in the air to let you know that winter is on its way.  The nights are getting cold and darkness is falling a little bit earlier each day. It is very pretty when I am out on my daily walk with the dogs.  And it is perfect weather for an Autumnal Salad.  

Autumn salad not only makes the use of one of my favourite autumn ingredients, chestnuts but the colours of the dish are meant to resemble the colours of autumn.

One of the paradoxes of living in iso is that, just when I have more time to cook, half the time I can’t be bothered.  I feel like I can’t remember a time when I didn’t feel anxious or scared. And whilst I am trying to enjoy the pleasures of the little things such as the turning of the leaves, TBH, a lot of the time I just want to sleep and/or play mindless games on my phone.  Another weird thing is that I am sleeping more than ever but constantly feel tired.

Anyway, for the days when I am feeling blah, this salad is a lifesaver.  Not only does it only take around ten minutes to prepare but  Autumn Salad  looks so colourful and pretty, is healthy and can be varied to fit what you have in the fridge or what you feel like eating on the day!

Back in the days before the ‘rona I used to regularly stock up on little vacuum packets of roasted chestnuts from the Japanese department store Daiso.  I usually have a few of these in my pantry to make this salad and other things requiring chestnuts.  I used my last pack to make this one so, for future rounds, it looks like I will be roasting my own chestnuts!  Good thing they are in season!  This will take this recipe out of the 10-minute realm but it will be worth it!

The Recipe

The original recipe for the Autumn Salad comes from the May 2003 Delicious magazine.  The basic recipe is this:

However, the joy of this salad lies in the variations.

Make it vegetarian

• Substitute the Proscuitto for Blue Cheese (This is my favourite). 
• Throw in some chopped up pears if you like.  Fresh or dried, both a great!

Make it vegan

• Substitute the Proscuitto for Roast Pumpkin or Sweet Potato

You can serve this Autumn Salad on its own or for a larger meal, it is fabulous with a baked potato, loaded with butter and chives,

That’s me done for today.  Stay safe!