Green salad with thyme-roasted cherry tomatoes & green olive dressing
SERVES 6-8 / PREPARATION 15 MINUTES / COOKING 30-35 MINUTES
This salad is lovely and light, but packed full of flavour. I’ve used a combination of soft butterhead lettuce and crisp baby cos lettuce, however feel free to use whatever you can get your hands on easily. Try to source green olives that haven’t had colouring added.
250g cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small butterhead or cos lettuces (or your favourite
salad greens), trimmed, washed and spun dry a big handful rocket leaves (or any other peppery leaf
such as watercress or upland cress)
2-3 radishes, trimmed and finely sliced a small handful flat-leafed parsley, leaves picked 2 tablespoons pinenuts, lightly toasted
FOR THE GREEN OLIVE DRESSING
½ cup good-quality pitted green olives 1 teaspoon capers
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons lemon juice 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Preheat the oven to 180℃. Arrange the halved tomatoes in a single layer on a large oven tray, scatter over the thyme, drizzle with olive oil and season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast for 30-35 minutes or until tender, dried out a little and the outside ones are turning golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
To make the dressing, either finely chop the green olives and capers by hand using a sharp knife, or pulse in a food processor a couple of times until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl, stir through the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste and add a pinch of salt, if needed.
To serve, combine the salad greens, rocket, sliced radishes, parsley and toasted pinenuts in a large serving bowl, scatter over the cooled roasted cherry tomatoes and drizzle with green olive dressing. Mix gently and serve immediately.
TIP Store any leftover pinenuts in the freezer and use in pesto or dressings.