Roasted Peppers and Feta Salad…
… just the name helps the imagination with all the colors and flavors!
Although not many, there are enough days in a year hot enough to keep us away from any form of artificial heat, especially the oven and the cooker!
While for many this may mean store-bought ready-made pasta salad, tuna mayo sandwich, or ice cream with double whipped cream, we all know it is not ideal, not long term satisfying.
When the weather guy warns me there are ridiculously hot days coming up, I try to ‘bulk-roast’ everything I may need during the week for my lunches, be it sweet potatoes, chicken, or peppers… with the last one being the king of this recipe!
Yes – I do bulk roast! Why? Easy: no need for a lot of fats to cook, easy to store, and quick to use when I’m too busy to start from scratch.
This feta salad, accompanied with roasted peppers and spring mix salad, will make you feel like you are sitting by the beach and you will want more of it!
It is a great salad to serve at buffets as well, as it is colorful and tasty, while not being over elaborated. Serve alongside this Potato or Aloo Masala Flatbread with Green Chutney and see the colors of both dishes pop! Ps. both great for picnics as well!
What’s good about this salad?
Peppers (red, yellow and orange bell peppers) are a great source of Vitamin A, C and Potassium, as well as fiber folate and iron. But they are not only healthy and tasty, they are also low in calories and extremely versatile!
If you are not a fan of radishes, I understand, but if you are, then rip the benefits! Radishes are another excellent source of Vitamin C and B12, calcium, potassium (it assists with regulating blood pressure) and manganese, which helps regulate nerve and brain functions.
Now, this recipe is: healthy, easy to prepare and tasty. No excuse not to try it out, is there?
Ingredients
- 300 g mixed peppers
- 10 sprays cooking spray
- 160 g mixed baby leaves
- 200 g baby plum tomato approximately 15-16 in number
- 50 g red onion
- 100 g cucumber
- 100 g extra light feta cheese I used Apetina Light for this
- 50 g green pitted olives
- 80 g radishes
- 1/2 tsp of dry parsley
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Julienne the mixed peppers, spread them well out on a cooking tray, and spray them with the cooking spray; roast for 12-14 minutes in the oven, which you would have preheated at 180^C - fan oven.
- Take out and rest for 15 minutes or until cool.
- In a big bowl put the baby leaves and then chop all the vegetables for the salad; what is very important for a salad to mix well, is to have everything chopped in sizes compatible with each other so that each mouthful offers the correct quantity of each ingredient. (See picture below for how I like mine!)
- Dress and serve.
Notes
Another good addition to this recipe is a handful of roasted sweet potatoes; note that these are (as the name says) sweet, so you may wish to eliminate or reduce the peppers and the tomato.
In any case, whatever change you make, ensure you ‘recalculate’ the calories, if calorie-counting! If you are wondering how to roast peppers in the oven so that they do not over-cook, over-mash and over-burn… follow exactly what I said in point one. Using the pepper in julienne format for this salad meal prep, will allow them to cook quite quickly and consistently. Place them in the middle of the oven and do not apply too much oil – that is why the spray will work just fine. If you like to keep a bit of crunch, you can easily have these peppers non cooked through and through… your choice, still fabulous! As a cheap and quick option, purchase ready sliced, frozen peppers! I find mine in bags of 600g for less than £1 and use them to bulk up sauces, salads, and quiches (amongst others); peppers are full of flavor and easy to cook, as they do not require too much fat or a dressing to be flavourful.
