Soul food salad with walnut pesto and blue cheese

This salad from Fran Mazza's new cookbook Feed Me Feed Me is great at a BBQ and helps to balance out a sometimes overwhelming amount of meat.

Salad

2	Large orange kumara, peeled (Main)
2	Carrots, peeled
2	Parsnips, peeled
90 ml	Olive oil
1 handful	Thyme
1 ¼ cups	Walnuts, (for salad and dressing)
½ cup	Pumpkin seeds
½ cup	Sunflower seeds
2 cups	Baby spinach leaves
150 g	Blue cheese, crumbled
1 handful	Chopped Italian parsley

Pesto dressing

1 cup	Basil leaves, washed
¼ cup	Freshly grated parmesan cheese
½ cup	Olive oil
½ cup	Aioli

Directions

1. Cut kumara, carrots and parsnips on an angle into 3cm pieces. Spread each type of vegetable over a separate roasting tray, drizzle each with oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and scatter thyme over. Using your hands, toss the vegetables until evenly coated in oil. Roast each vegetable in the oven until golden brown and cooked through, turning them once or twice during the cooking time. When done, remove thyme stalks and leave to cool.
2. While veggies are baking, place walnuts on an oven tray and bake for 5–10 minutes or until nicely toasted. Set aside to cool.
3. Place pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan and toast over a medium heat until very lightly browned. Tip out onto a plate to cool and repeat for the sunflower seeds.
4. For the pesto dressing, place basil, parmesan and ¼ cup of your toasted walnuts, along with some salt and pepper, in a food processor and pulse until combined. With the processor running, slowly add oil until the pesto is well blended but still liquid enough to drop off a spoon.
5. To assemble the salad, place cooled roasted vegetables in a large bowl, add remaining toasted walnuts and seeds, baby spinach and blue cheese. Mix pesto with aioli, pour over salad and mix gently until evenly coated in dressing. Place in your favourite salad bowl and garnish with parsley.