Last evening, my parents invited a bunch of their nearest and dearest over for a home cooked meal. This, along with an evergreen Greek Salad was my humble offering. I share this now with you primarily because all thought the cooking process, all I could dream of was eating this for dinner! It’s got all my favourite ingredients of a salad- tomato, avocado, bread, and cheese! Heavenly! There is just no way this salad could go wrong. Crowd pleaser! The raspberry coloured tomatoes, against the green of the spinach, the textures of the soft meaty avocado against the crumbly goat’s cheese, was just- divine.
Salad: (Adapted from What’s for Lunch Honey)
1. 500g fresh baby spinach – washed and cleaned
2. 6 medium sized tomatoes – sliced and de-seeded
3. 1 avocado – peeled and sliced
4. 2 spring onions – chopped
5. 200g young goat cheese
6. Zest of 1 lemon
7. Salt and pepper
Herb and Garlic infused Ciabatta:
8. 100g Ciabatta bread – sliced
9. 1 entire garlic spud – Peel the spud and then cut the cloves in coarse slices
10. Handful fresh Rosemary
11. Handful fresh Thyme
Dressing Reduction:
1. 2 tbs olive oil
2. 2 red onions – sliced
3. 4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4. 2-3 curry leaves
Dressing:
1. 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
2. 1-2 tbs lemon juice
3. Fresh Rosemary
4. 2-4 tablespoons raspberry vinegar
5. Salt and pepper
Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 150c. In the mean time, slice the ciabatta and place on a foiled baking sheet. 8-10 slices should be sufficient. Place a thinly sliced clove on every slice, and drizzle with olive oil and a few sprigs of thyme and rosemary. If placed in a HOT oven, it shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes to brown. (See before and after pictures).
2. Next up- prepare the dressing. Use a small non stick saucepan and bring the sliced red onions, curry leaves and red wine vinegar to a rolling boil. Simmer for 10 minutes, then allow to cool. Once cool, add the olive oil and keep aside.
3. Cut the avocado into 2” long slices and place in a small container. Shower with lemon juice and salt.
4. Slice the tomatoes to 1cm thickness, mix with the spinach, spring onions and lemon zest. Add some fresh rosemary and thyme. Season well to taste. Place on a long serving dish and top with the avocado. Then crumble over the goats cheese and decorate the corners with the herb and garlic infused ciabatta. Who can resist such beauty? ( I clearly forgot to take a picture after the goats cheese was crumbled! boo)
Feedback:
1. If plating and serving, this salad would be wonderful as a main as well. For starters too, layer the salad as described, and then place one Herb and Garlic infused Ciabatta on top of the salad.
2. Curry leaves can be replaced with bay leaves.
3. If you don’t have raspberry vinegar, do as I did and use apple cider vinegar.
4. Make sure never to toss the salad once you add the avocado, or else you will be left with miserable little pieces of green gob. Eeks.
