Christmas Rice Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 500 g butternut squash (roughly half a large butternut squash) peeled and chopped into 1cm / ½inch cubes
• Salt and pepper
• 300 g mix of wild and long grain rice
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (or just regular olive oil if you don’t have extra virgin)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 2 tablespoons mint chopped
• 100 g pomegranate seeds
• 50 g pistachio kernels
• 100 g feta crumbled

Instructions:

• Preheat your oven to 220C 
• Drizzle a roasting tray with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Put the butternut squash cubes into the roasting tray and turn in the oil. Make sure the butternut squash is spread out in 1 layer. Add a little salt and pepper to taste.  Put the butternut squash in the oven for about 20 minutes until soft.
• Meanwhile cook the rice according to packet instructions and then drain the rice thoroughly.
• When the squash and rice are ready, tip the rice into the squash tray. (Be sure the rice is thoroughly drained before you do this.) Squeeze the lemon juice into the tray and add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil (about 1 tablespoon).
• Add roughly half the chopped mint, pomegranate seeds, pistachio kernels and crumbled feta and mix everything together. Turn out onto a serving platter and scatter with the remaining mint, seeds, pistachios and feta.

Credits: Easy Peasy Foodie