Tangy, fruity, nutritious salad

6 November, 2024

Following my husband’s recent (and somewhat unexpected) coeliac disease diagnosis, I have been forced into being a little more creative with my cooking and am reluctantly having to move away a little from my Italian bias - which was always my go-to. So now I have to think more creatively, get out of my comfort zone a bit (always good!) and find new ways of putting good food on the table.

Today’s salad lunch was inspired by a lunch we had while on a short break in Portugal’s Algarve for our wedding anniversary in October. We were in a restaurant newly taken over from an old guy who’d had it for decades - though we did not know this when we chose to go there. In fact we were expecting the traditional Algarvian plates of prawns in garlic and oil, fresh fish with salad and potatoes, and the like. What we got was new, young, fresh and modern in its approach and excellently executed. N had the very traditional ingredient of freshly grilled sardines but on a bed of finely cubed beetroot and hummus with micro-salad details - delicious; and I had a salad of green leaves, curried chick peas, mango and avocado. Sounds a bit banal perhaps but the flavours were superb together. No complaints here! 

So this is what I did as ‘my version’ of this very sunny and nutritious salad:-

Ingredients

Half a ripe mango - sliced

1 ripe avocado - halved and sliced

Tin of chickpeas, drained

Olive oil -  for warming the chickpeas + quality EVOO for salad dressing

Packet of rocket and mixed leaf salad

5ml freshly squeezed lemon juice

Lemon Rind - peeled and chopped

1 half of a preserved lemon slice, chopped finely

Salt and pepper for salad dressing

Sprinkle of mixed seeds

Spices for chickpeas: za’atar, garlic salt, garlic pepper, mild curry powder, sesame oil, olive oil

Method

The only bit of ‘cooking’ is warming the drained chick peas in a pan with olive oil and all the spices. Then you simply mix these up in a bowl with all the other ingredients, tossing everything together thoroughly to make sure the dressing and different components are all properly combined.

Very simple, very healthy and very tasty! 

Enjoy!