Greek salad with roasted carrots
Greek salad with roasted carrots
I’ve done something unconventional, but trust me. I’ve added roasted carrots to Greek salad. It’s unusual yes, but the result feels incredibly natural, an intuitive pairing. The roasted carrots add lovely bites of sweetness and earthiness, a contrast in texture and flavour that makes the very familiar Greek salad feel exciting and new.
This is not an improvement of Greek salad because it doesn’t need any. But what it does offer is an idea, a different way to enjoy familiar flavours, and a rejuvenation of a classic which inevitably highlights how good the original salad is. I daresay, you could tinker yourself and add other roasted veggies to Greek salad - zucchini, eggplant, and cauliflower spring to mind as excellent options that would add complexity to the Greek salad flavour profile.
To veganize, just vegan feta. I like this one from Violife.
Serves 4 - vegan (use vegan feta), gluten free
Ingredients
- 450g (1 pound) carrots, peeled or unpeeled, and cut into 2.5cm (1-inch) pieces
- extra virgin olive oil
- sea salt and black pepper
- 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 450g (1 pound) cherry or small tomatoes, halved
- 3 Lebanese (Persian) cucumbers, cut into 2.5cm (1-inch) pieces
- 1 small green or red capsicum (bell pepper), core, membrane and seeds removed and cut crosswise into thinly sliced
- 20-25 black olives, seeds removed and torn
- 200 to 230g (7 to 8 ounces) vegan or dairy feta, broken into large chunks
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- Handful of oregano or mint leaves
Preheat oven to 220˚C / 425˚F.
Place the carrots onto a baking sheet, season generously with salt and black pepper and place in the oven. Roast until the carrots are tender and slightly golden, 25-30 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, in a large non- reactive bowl, add the red onions and red wine vinegar and toss. Leave to marinate while you prepare the rest of the salad. This softens the flavour of raw onion.
To the onions, add the carrots, tomatoes, cucumber, capsicum (bell pepper), olives, feta, the dried oregano and mint and the fresh oregano or mint. Add about 3 tablespoons of olive oil (or more) and season generously with salt and pepper.
Serve as is, or with bread on the side.