Chrissy Teigen Created The Fall Salad Of Our Dreams, And We Snagged The Recipe

It's fair to say that Chrissy Teigen knows what people want. From her mega-popular Instagram stories and clap-back filled Twitter to her two New York Times best-selling cookbooks, she's mastered the art of dishing up exactly what people desire—with a hefty dose of sass alongside. Her latest book, Cravings: Hungry For More, was written after she'd just given birth to her first child, daughter Luna. "I looked back through the recipes [of this book] and for maybe a quarter of them, I was pretty heavy duty in the midst of postpartum depression," she told Bon Appetit. She hit pause on the book for five months, and came back refreshed—and ready to approach food with a different perspective than she had with her first book. It's a little bit more "grown up," as she writes in the intro. "I got to travel and taste more things around the world, and this book has some recipes with brighter flavors and maybe slightly less cheese and gravy and...ham than Cravings."

While the book still features decadent fare (Everything Bagel Breakfast Bake, anyone?), it speaks more to how Teigen and her family actually eat on an everyday basis—that is, a bit healthier. She told Women's Health that she starts every day with a savory porridge, with mushrooms and egg, then has coconut curry or avocado toast for lunch. Dinner is usually salmon with greens, and she sips gut-healing staple bone broth throughout the day.

This recipe, excerpted from the book, is bursting with Teigen's signature bold flavors, but applied to a leafy green, autumnal salad. "Salads can be so basic. Why bother?" Teigen writes in the book. "Wellllllllll...because roasted squash and little pom jewels that burst in your mouth and creamy goat cheese and a dressing you’ll want to put on all your other green leafy things are magic."

Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients, Squash

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 cups ½-inch cubes peeled butternut squash (1½ pounds; from a 2¼-pound whole squash, if that’s where you’re starting from)

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste

Ingredients, Dressing

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard

1 tablespoon honey

1 clove garlic, grated or smashed into a paste

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons olive oil

Ingredients, Salad

5 cups baby arugula

½ cup pomegranate seeds* (see Tip)

¼ cup pumpkin seeds, lightly toasted

½ small red onion, thinly sliced

½ cup crumbled goat cheese (4 ounces)

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Roast the squash. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and pour 2 tablespoons of the oil on the lined sheet. Place the oiled sheet in the oven (yep, nothing on it) and heat until very hot but not smoking, about 8 minutes.

In a large bowl, toss the squash with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, the salt, pepper, and cayenne until coated. Using an oven mitt, remove the hot baking sheet from the oven and quickly pour the squash onto the sheet (you should hear some sizzling); take a few extra seconds to make sure the flat sides of the squash are hitting that hot oiled pan. Roast until the undersides are golden, about 15 minutes. Remove the squash from the oven, shake the pan (or flip the squash with tongs if you’re down with OCD, yeah you know me), return to the oven, and roast until the new underside is golden brown,10 to 15 minutes. Let cool to room temp or just warm (so it doesn’t murder the greens when you drop them on).

Make the dressing. In a screw-top jar, shake the vinegar, mustard, honey, garlic, salt, pepper, and oil until it’s creamy. (If it separates, just shake it again.)

Makes the salad. Arrange the arugula on a platter. Top with the roasted squash, pomegranate seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Scatter the onion and goat cheese on top. Drizzle with the dressing to taste and sprinkle with pepper.

*Or finely diced green apple if you can’t find pom seeds.

Based on excerpts from Cravings: Hungry For More by Chrissy Teigen, with the permission of Clarkson Potter, a division of Penguin Random House. Copyright © 2018.