EGGPLANT WITH PISTACHIOS & SUMAC, FETA & YOGHURT DRESSING
SERVES 6-8 AS A SIDE DISH / PREPARATION 20 MINUTES PLUS COOLING / COOKING 10 MINUTES
SUMAC, FETA & YOGHURT DRESSING 150g Greek yoghurt
100g feta
1 clove garlic, finely grated or crushed 1 teaspoon sumac juice of ½ lemon
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 teaspoons cold water salt and pepper
Put all ingredients into a food processor and process until smooth. Loosen with more cold water if too thick. Can be made up to 5 days in advance.
CHARRED EGGPLANT SALAD
3 eggplants
½ cup olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons extra
for dressing the salad
3 cloves garlic, finely grated or crushed 1 head green witlof, leaves separated 30g parsley sprigs
70g pistachios, toasted
Cut eggplants into 1cm slices and coat in the olive oil and garlic, ensuring both sides are covered in oil. Barbecue the slices on a high heat for approximately 5-6 minutes per side, until golden with grill marks. Once cooked, set aside to cool to room temperature.
Put the eggplant, witlof and parsley sprigs in a large mixing bowl with some Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, then randomly splatter with the feta dressing and about 2 tablespoons olive oil. Gently mix by hand, but don’t over mix; you don’t want everything evenly coated in the dressing, just randomly dressed. Plate onto a large serving platter. Dress the toasted pistachios in 1 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkle over the salad. Serve immediately for best results.
NOTE: I often splatter thick viscous dressings onto salads, then drizzle with a little more olive oil, which means when you lightly toss it you have pockets of a thick, full-flavoured dressing scattered throughout the salad rather than it being overworked.
AS WELL AS FLAVOUR, I OFTEN THINK ABOUT THE COLOURS OF CHRISTMAS, THEN THOSE IDEA BECOME SOMETHING FESTIVE, SPECIAL AND DELICIOUS.