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!

Feasting with friends

Mike and I got the idea for this salad from the Domestic Goddess Herself, watching Nigella Feasts one morning on Discovery Travel and Living. I tweaked her recipe a bit, substituting marsala for pear juice because a) I'm pregnant and b) I can't find marsala in Singapore anyway, and adding avacado - because you can't have chicken salad without avacado.

The first time I cooked this I had a friend over during the preparation and tonight she's staying for tea, having specially requested this salad!

Roast Chicken Salad

3 or 4 chicken breasts, skin on
200ml pear juice
olive oil
Mixed lettuce leaves (crunchy ones! But whichever you like, really)
1 avacado, chopped
Handful golden sultanas, soaked in water/a little pear juice
Handful pinenuts, toasted in fry pan for a couple of minutes
Balsamic vinegar

Pre heat oven to 180C

Splash a couple of slugs of olive oil around the bottom of a roasting pan. Place the chicken breasts in the pan, skin side up, and splash a bit more oil over the top. Pour over the pear juice.

Roast chicken for approximately 30 - 40 minutes in the middle of the oven (will depend on your oven and how many chicken breasts you're cooking). Check chicken is cooked all the way through by cutting into the thickest part of the breast. The skin should be looking nice and crispy! Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before cutting into chunks. Set aside pan with juices from cooking.

Meanwhile, rinse and roughly tear lettuce onto a platter. Add chicken and avacado, sprinkle with soaked sultanas and toasted pinenuts.

Add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to the juices in the bottom of the roasting pan and stir. Pour over salad. Try to get the salad to the table before you start eating ;)