Griddled Vegetable & Rocket Salad with Spiced Almonds

I absolutely adore the combination of griddled courgettes and roasted peppers, with the addition of peppery rocket and a creamy yogurt dressing. So fresh and delicious, beautiful summer flavours and perfect as a barbecue side salad.

Here I’ve added chickpeas to make it more balanced and nutritious.  But this would also work really well with flageolet, cannelini or haricot beans. And as this salad contains pulses and lots of roasted vegetables it can be a meal in itself, just add lashings of chunky sourdough to mop up the luscious dressing.

Print Recipe

Griddled Vegetable & Rocket Salad with Spiced Almonds

serves 6-8

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time40 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Side Dish

Ingredients

• 3 red pepper
• 2 courgettes
• 1 tin chickpeas drained
• 100 g wild rocket rinsed
• 70 g almonds
• 1 tsp pimenton
• ½ clove garlic minced
• 1 ½ Tbls Greek style yogurt, full fat
• 3 Tbls white wine vinegar
• 6 Tbls olive oil
• salt and pepper
• Extra olive oil for cooking

Instructions

• Pre-heat the oven 190C fan. Cut the peppers in half and de-seed. Place on a baking tray with a drizzle of olive oil, cut side down. Roast for 20-30 minutes, or until the skin starts to blacken. Remove from the oven and place in a bowl and cover so the peppers can steam in the residual heat. Once cool, peel away the skin and discard. Reserve the liquid from the peppers and cut into strips. Set to one side.
• Place the almonds in a bowl and sprinkle with the pimenton and some sea salt and a little olive oil, give it a good stir and then place in a heat proof dish. Bake in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until nicely roasted. Remove and set to one side.
• Drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper on the chickpeas. Place on a baking tray and bake for 8-10 minutes.
• Cut the courgette in half and then slice finely. Sprinkle with a little salt and leave for approximately 5-10 minutes. Heat a griddle pan to high and drizzle with a little olive oil. Dab the courgettes with kitchen paper to remove any liquid that might have accumulated. Griddle in the hot pan in batches. Set to one side.
• To make the dressing. Place the yogurt in a bowl with the minced garlic. Add the vinegar and olive oil and whisk. Now add the reserved pepper liquid, salt and pepper and whisk again.
• Place the rocket on a large platter. Scatter the chickpeas, peppers and courgettes on the rocket. Dress the salad at the last minute and finely sprinkle over the nuts. Serve.

Tips:

• Prepare the vegetables several hours in advance.
• Add sliced griddled or oven baked aubergine as an alternative.
• If you don’t have Greek style yogurt use sour cream or creme fraiche.