Planning Ahead: Marinated Feta and Roast Pumpkin Salad

Just a quick recipe before I head home to cook dinner. Part of my resolutions for this semester is bringing healthy lunches to uni, which I generally suck at unless it's leftovers. However, planning ahead to make salad is another option, slightly complicated by the fact I prefer cooked over raw vegetables. So here's my step-by-step plan for workday lunch:

Firstly, get some feta (I like smooth feta, such as Danish feta or goat's feta, in memory of the no-longer available best marinated feta ever from the Shenton Park supermarket). Cut up the feta into 2cm-ish cubes, finely slice one red chilli and two cloves of garlic, tear up a fresh bay leaf and a handful of thyme, and grab ten or so whole black peppercorns. Layer into a glass jar, then cover with olive oil. Leave in the fridge to marinate for a week or longer (a week is as long as I can hold out). On the weekend, buy a bunch of English spinach and a butternut pumpkin, and at some point during the weekend roast the pumpkin (cut up, cut off skin and seeds, toss with olive oil, minced garlic and herbs, roast in 190-200 degrees oven for one hour or until starting to brown at edges) and strip the leaves off the spinach (rinse thoroughly and then dry thoroughly). In the morning before work, toss the spinach leaves, pumpkin and feta in a container. If you want dressing, shake together the oil from the feta with white balsamic vinegar. If you are more naturally healthy than I am, feel free to add other vegetables to the salad.