Sunday, January 10, 2016

Roast kumara, eggplant and lentil salad with feta and pomegranate



This salad has been a staple for us this summer.  It's never quite the same each time I make it, usually because I forget to add something or find something else that might be a tasty addition.. But here's the basic gist anyway.  If you can't find fresh pomegranate you could soak dried cranberries in water till they've plumped up and use those instead.

1 large orange kumara chopped into 2cm cubes (sweet potato for those of you outside New Zealand!)
1 large eggplant, cubed
1 head garlic
Olive oil spray

Rocket, baby spinach or other salad greens
1/2 telegraph cucumber, cubed
1/2 can brown lentils, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley
Large handful mint leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup feta, crumbled (I usually just use half a block of reduced fat feta chopped up)
Seeds and juice from 1/2 pomegranate
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 220c.  Place kumara and eggplant on a lined baking tray with the garlic and spray everything lightly with olive oil.  Roast veggies for about 30 minutes or until nice and golden.

Build the salad on a large, shallow dish or platter.  Start with greens, parsley and 3/4 of the mint (save the rest to garnish later) and then scatter roasted veggies and cucumber over the top, followed by the lentils.  Crumble your feta over the salad, sprinkle over pomegranate seeds and the rest of the mint.  Squeeze lemon juice over the whole salad and season with some salt and freshly ground pepper.  Yum!


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