Thursday, 12 December 2013

Tomato and Feta Salad with Aubergine Relish


From Market Vegetarian, Ross Dobson, Ryland Peters & Small, 2008.
This was a salad of tomato and mozzarella. I had feta cheese so decided on using that instead.

The relish was made first. I chopped a red onion and sautéed it for about 2 minutes in olive oil. I then added a chopped eggplant (aubergine) and cooked this with the onion for about 10 minutes when the eggplant had turned golden and was perfectly soft. While it was cooking I chopped 2 garlic cloves, a stick of celery and a red capsicum. I also measured out a tablespoon of capers and about a handful of black olives.

The garlic was added to the eggplant mixture and cooked for about a minute before I added the celery, red capsicum, capers and olives. These were cooked for another minute. I did not want them to lose their crispness. I now added a good dash of red wine vinegar and a couple of teaspoons of sugar. They were brought to the boil and cooked for another minute. The heat was now turned off. It was seasoned with salt and black pepper and left to stand until it was at room temperature. I checked it for taste and it was very good.
When it was time to serve, two large tomatoes were sliced and placed on a serving dish. The eggplant relish was spooned on top and the feta crumbled and sprinkled over. Some mint leaves were scattered on top.
The relish was zesty and a little crunchy. It went very well with the tomatoes. Perhaps the creamy mozzarella would have been better than the feta, but it was all very enjoyable.
Taste: ✔✔✔
Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔

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