After roughly four and a half months of beautiful Perth summer days the weather is gradually cooling down. Despite this, I'm holding onto summer as long as I can. This salad is an attempt to hold onto summer whilst at the same time transitioning to heartier cooler weather dinners. Boo (but yay!). So while wanting something light but warming and needing to get rid of some ingredients I came up with this recipe. This salad is filling, healthy and flavourful without being bland and too starchy. Perfect for transitioning weather. The red onion retains its crunch and bite but because it is briefly softened in the oven it starts taking on a slight caramelised flavour. The seasoned and roasted chickpeas provide the perfect balance to the sweet potato and carrot without overpowering the sweet al dente vegetables.
Preparation: 20 minutes (plus marinade time), cooking time 40 minutes
Serves 2
Ingredients:
For the roasted vegetables:
small sweet potato, peeled and diced
carrot, peeled and diced
small red onion, thickly sliced
2 garlic cloves minced
For the salad:
6 baby Roma/cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 spring onion, sliced
small handful flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
For the roasted chickpeas:
1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil (garlic infused olive oil if you have it)
1 tsp each ground coriander/cumin, smoked paprika/cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
squeeze lemon
salt and pepper to taste
For the dressing:
3 tablespoons yogurt
Lebanese cucumber, halved length ways and sliced thinly
teaspoon crushed garlic
salt and Pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon
For the chicken:
1 chicken breast halved length ways
2 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 tsp coriander
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 bunch fresh parsley
1/2 bench fresh coriander
To make the marinade, combine olive oil, garlic and spices in a food processor or blender. Blitz until combined and add fresh herbs. Blend until herbs are minced. Combine the marinade and chicken in a snap lock plastic bag (or container) for at least 4 hours or overnight.
About forty minutes before serving, prepare dressing and salad base, set aside.
Combine olive oil (or garlic oil if you have it), sweet potato, carrot in an oven proof tray, season with salt and pepper and roast at 180dc for 30 minutes or until softened. Stirring every five minutes. 10 minutes before serving add garlic and red onion, return to oven.
About half way through cooking the sweet potato mixture prepare the roasted chickpeas. Combine all ingredients in a hot oven proof dish and bake for 15 minutes stirring every few minutes. Just before serving add chickpeas to roasted vegetables.
Top salad base with roasted vegetable mix and set aside until ready to serve.
To prepare the chicken you can bake, grill or BBQ. We BBQ'd ours on our pre-heated Weber for five minutes each side with the lid down. Pile sliced chicken breast onto finished salad and serve immediately with yogurt dressing.
