Christmas

Roasted Onion Salad with Arugula and Walnut Salsa

by:
November 11, 2014
4.7
7 Ratings
Roasted Onion Salad with Arugula and Walnut Salsa
Photo by Mark Weinberg
  • Serves 4
Author Notes

This recipe comes from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty More. It's probably the sexiest thing that you could ever advertise as "onion salad." —Marian Bull

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the salad:
  • 4 medium red onions
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup arugula (Not to be a snob, but if you can find arugula at your farmers market, I promise that it will be ten times better than the boxed stuff. Prettier, too.)
  • 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • 2 ounces soft goat cheese, broken into 1/2- to 1-inch chunks
  • Flaky salt and freshly cracked black pepper
  • For the walnut salsa:
  • 2/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (make sure they're not bitter or rancid, okay?)
  • 1 fresh red chile (e.g. Thai bird's eye), seeded and finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • salt
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 425° F. Peel the onions and remove their tops and tails. Slice each one crosswise into 3 slices, about 3/4 inch thick, and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. (You can skip the parchment, but you'll spend more time cleaning.) Drizzle the slices with olive oil and smoosh the oil around with your (clean) hands to coat evenly. (You can also use a pastry brush; I don't own one.) Sprinkle with a big pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, until the onions begin to brown and caramelize, and are soft but not totally slouchy. (If you want more color out of them, stick them under the broiler for a minute or two.) Set them aside to cool just a bit.
  2. While the onions cook, combine all of the salsa ingredients in a small bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon salt, stir, and set aside.
  3. To serve, put the arugula and parsley in a large bowl. Toss with about half the salsa, then nestle in the onion slices, dollop on the cheese, and top with the rest of the salsa. Serve.
Tags:

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Rosalind Paaswell
    Rosalind Paaswell
  • Lynn
    Lynn
  • Jan brown
    Jan brown
  • Antonietta Discenza
    Antonietta Discenza
  • Hannah Mark
    Hannah Mark
Marian Bull

Recipe by: Marian Bull

writer

Popular on Food52

17 Reviews

Rosalind P.
Rosalind P. July 25, 2021
Tried a different way: process the arugula and parsley with the "salsa" (a.k.a sauce?). Spoon over and into the onion layers. Same flavor profile.
 
Lynn
Lynn December 2, 2020
I settled upon this salad as a side to a vaguely Middle-Eastern Lamb Mince Crumble I was making for a family supper. It literally stole the show. I took advice from the comments and used walnut oil and sherry vinegar, but found the salsa a bit too sharp so added a teaspoon or so of pomegranate molasses (in keeping, I figured). I snipped my rucola a bit to make the stems easier to eat, my onions were soft and brown and delicious, the additions sublime, and it turned out to be probably one of my favourite salads ever.
 
Kathleen
Kathleen May 10, 2019
I thought this was fantastic. I forgot to buy the chili, so I used some "extra hot" red pepper flakes instead. The chili addition creates a wonderful bit of heat! Truly delicious.
 
Jan B.
Jan B. January 8, 2018
I served at a small dinner party last night . Wonderful thumbs up . I then ate the leftover for breakfast . That says it all .👍
 
D
D November 23, 2017
Just tried this and the onions burned. Next time I'll try an oil other than olive oil and reduce the cook time.
 
Julia C.
Julia C. May 15, 2017
Oh my goodness, truly, all my salad favs together in one bowl of happiness! Bless you. I can see adding some thin sliced rare beef tenderloin or rare grilled sirloin to this for a perfect summer dinner along with crusty bread and short cake for dessert for the perfect dinner on a hot summer night. i'lll just grill the onions instead on low heat (gas grill) instead of heating up the kitchen! Love the idea of using balsamic and walnut oil. Thank you for my new go to summer meal.
 
Antonietta D.
Antonietta D. February 2, 2016
I thought this was a little odd. I loved the roasted onion with the goat cheese & vinaigrette & greens, but I didn't care for the walnuts added in. It was just a bit different for me & I think I would leave the walnuts out next time,
 
Nikol
Nikol June 15, 2015
"boxed stuff"- I've never seen boxed arugula
 
Hannah M.
Hannah M. May 5, 2015
The only change I made was to up the onion and arugula amounts and roast the onions with a good deal of balsamic to sweeten them. Delicious!
 
cookinginvictoria
cookinginvictoria December 20, 2014
I made this last night for a party and it was amazing! Everybody raved. So simple to put together, yet the combination of ingredients is pretty much perfect. I used hazelnut oil and sherry wine vinegar. Thanks for the tip, Katrine. It's pretty difficult to find arugula in Victoria this time of year, even in the grocery stores, so I subbed spinach. And thank you, Marion, for spotlighting this recipe!
 
Sarah
Sarah November 26, 2014
Hi, do you have the nutritional info for this recipe? :) Thanks!
 
Katrine
Katrine November 25, 2014
Delicious! Used Sherry vinegar instead of red wine vinegar and walnut oil instead of olive oil and think it was a nice little variation.
 
hardlikearmour
hardlikearmour November 18, 2014
This salad is fantastic! I can't believe I just ate an entire red onion :-). Thanks for the great find, Marian.
 
Brenna M.
Brenna M. November 17, 2014
Marian! You inspired me to make this- it was amazing. Hope your well, love all your posts. xo Brenna
 
Paula V.
Paula V. November 12, 2014
Can you make the onions and salsa the day before? And assemble the salad the next day?
 
Marian B.
Marian B. November 15, 2014
Definitely!
 
Country Q.
Country Q. November 12, 2014
Nice - must try