Uncle Steve (Pete’s brother) was over for a birthday lunch last week.
As his partner Ali doesn’t eat meat, we created this grilled vegetable salad to serve as a main meal. We’ve been cooking a lot of vegetarian dishes in the past couple of years, and our current thinking is this: vegetable only main courses need to be more complex than meat based ones in order to achieve the same “oomph”.
That’s not to say a dish of steamed young vegetables with a light dressing isn’t the perfect starter, but it just doesn’t offer the mix of flavours that we seek in a main meal.
We began by slicing peeled potatoes, carrots, zucchini and eggplant (the latter two from our garden), tossing them in a little olive oil and salt, and roasting them in a 200C fan-forced oven…
A tray of peeled and sliced sweet potato was roasted in the same way.
Once the grilled vegetables had cooled to warm, they were combined with cos lettuce, sliced jalapeño chillies, and lightly blanched beans.
We toasted a handful of macadamia nuts, flaked almonds and sunflower seeds, and mixed them in a small bowl with a handful of our marinated feta and Pete’s dressing of:
- 2 parts pumpkin seed oil (thanks Karen!)
- 2 parts extra virgin olive oil
- 1 part hazelnut oil
The vegetables were seasoned with sea salt and a little ground black pepper, then the nuts, feta and dressing were tossed through. We served the salad with a homemade basil and macadamia nut pesto…
The second time we made this dish (for our vegetarian friend Craig), it included potatoes, tromboncinos, eggplant, sweet potatoes, raw purple beans, fried snake beans, mixed lettuce and Bella Rosa tomatoes. We increased the quantity of seeds, nuts and feta, adding sunflower seeds as well. It was even better than our first attempt!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Roasted vegetables are the best- they have a better consistency and a smoky flavor that can’t be beat!
Heidi, they were very delicious – I always wonder why we don’t make them more often. And then I think about growing sweet potatoes, but I know they just take over the garden…
A meal fit for a king Celia. Fabulous. I haven’t roasted veggies for quite some time and we are enjoying lovely weather still so think I shall incorporate a similar salad with my steak dinner.
:-) Mandy xo
Thanks Mandy! Our weather can’t seem to make up its mind at the moment, but it sounds like you’ve been having it much drier than we have!
We don’t have the same vegetables available this time of year in France but your idea of oven roasting large pieces of veggies is really appealing, I will try it with what I find. (I often roast veggies, but cut in small pieces, the taste is certainly very different and less “meaty”).
Flo, I hope you like it – the roast veg made it so much more filling than a raw salad! It’s lovely having you visit, thank you! I wish I spoke French, as your blog looks wonderful! :)
Looks fantastic Celia. I have to put mover veggies on my diet as per doctors orders. Now I have a great meal to look forward to.
Norma, I was thinking of your latest post, and how wonderful blue and purple potatoes would look in this dish!
What a lavish meal :) It looks so beautiful.
Tes, thank you! It really did feel very sophisticated! :)
Oh dear, I can fly there, they are so delicious, so yummy! Thanks and Love, nia
Nia, thank you! xx
Yummy Celia! You’ve got a lot of flavor going on in those salads. Grilling & roasting veg is such a great way to go! How did you like the pumpkin seed oil? I use it for my pumpkin spice bread, but have found ways to incorporate it in vinaigrettes and roasted veg as well :)
Emilie, it’s really surprising – I never expected it to be so dark! It’s quite delicious, and we’ve used it a bit since discovering it!
Oh my gosh, that looks so delicious! I can’t wait for salad season to start, Celia.
Misky, thank you – this is a warm salad, so it might be ok for winter? Although you’re right in the midst of hearty stew season, aren’t you? Hope the renovations are going well – they certainly look exciting!
Builders just drained the heating system so they can reposition radiators. It’s -0.6C outside. Snow expected this weekend. The word cryogenics comes to mind. Still too early for salads, even a warm one. I need heat!
Good grief! Snuggle up, Misky!! xx
We’re okay, Celia. Wearing lots of layers, and we have an electric heater going in the living room. :)
We love roasted or grilled veggies, too. I cook them according to the season and they are often ‘the night before the veggie shop’ aka ‘clear out the fridge’ dish!
We have them with cheese (almost any type) scattered over them or the last inch or two of Chorizo or . . .
We arm wrestle for who gets the left overs for breakfast!
I like your idea of using them for a salad – *makes note*.
Oooh Pat, I think I’d love to throw chorizo in this salad, that’s a great idea…(though not for the vegetarians, obviously :))
Roll a log of goats cheese in toasted chopped pistachios and almonds, slice it thickly and put in middle of salad of mixed greens and drizzle over quince dressing and Vegetarians will adore you but then she probably already does. Will put the dressing on my blog when I find time.
Roz, that would taste fantastic, I’ll add it to my vegetarian recipe list, thank you! x
Yummy. I love roasted sweet potato or pumpkin, as well as carrot. Your salad is glorious!
Thank you, darling! I’m a big fan too! After reading Norma’s last post (above), I now want to track down multi-coloured potatoes for this dish as well!
Delicious :) Roast vege salad has become a favourite in our house too, even the G.O. who isn’t/wasn’t a big vege fan says, I like this one. So far for him it’s an accompaniment to meat but the proportion of vege is increasing. It started with left over roast veges tossed with green beans, red capsicum, red onion, green olives, haloumi & walnuts but I make it with whatever is to hand. Sundried tomatoes are good, and a scattering of rocket… I would take the left overs for lunch but they go into the G.O.’s esky.
ED, if he’s taking them for lunch the next day, then I think that definitely qualifies as a hit! The walnuts and haloumi are great suggestions, must try that next time, thank you!
oh, and with a few chopped dates or dried figs :)
Excellent & tasty versatile vegetarian dishes! I love them all! Yummy too!
Thanks Sophie! :)
I love roasted vegetables so this looks wonderful to me. I love how you plated it and that dollop of macadamia pesto just finishes off the presentation so nicely. I love pesto! xx
Charlie, thank you, it was quite a grown up dish, I thought. I was eating the pesto with a spoon though, which was not very grown up of me at all. :)
I know I have said this before, but I want to come to your place for lunch.
Next time you’re in town, we’ll have lunch here. Give me a day’s warning so I can tidy up first (I have sons!). :)
That looks so pretty Celia! I agree that I like my vegetarian dishes to be complex and packed with flavour. Is wonder if that’s true for vegetarians too? I’m happy with a steak or sausage on bread, but would they enjoy a carrot or eggplant the same way…. Let’s just give them your salad too be on the safe side! :)
Becca, thanks love, I always feel for vegetarians, because I think they’re so often ripped off in restaurants, and their meals end up as an assortment of side dishes!
A lot of vego dishes are actually ‘contaminated’ with animal products Celia. I’ve seen so many risottos made with chicken stock and butter sent out, or duck fat baked potatoes, or gelatine based products, or even ones like dough containing lard, that all have been served as vegetarian options. Last week I was at a club and the vegetarian meal was stir fry with oyster sauce- that contains, you guessed it, oysters! I must admit I once put fish sauce in a vegetarian meal- but it was a true accident, and I confessed to my boss as soon as I realised…. But it had already been eaten. I felt soooo guilty! :(
lovely birthday lunch, no need for meat with all those lovely vegetables. john
Thanks John! Next time I’m going to serve this with Roz’s goat cheese suggestion – it will be a feast! :)
I agree about the need for complexity to give some depth. I love the use of nuts for this – or grains like quinoa, burgul or freekah always add bulk and nutrition too!
Amanda, quinoa is the only thing I can’t get past the fam. I’m sure I’ve never prepared it properly, as it tasted a bit bitter and soapy last time we tried it, and we’ve never been near it since…
I love those ‘platter’ salads – every mouthful is a different combination – surprise salad. Basil and macadamia pesto looks and sounds lovely. I usually use almonds but I must give macadamias a whirl.
Jan, it’s actually lime basil – we tried growing some, and it didn’t prove that useful for cooking, but it was great in the pesto! :)
Love the look and will love the taste of this one! I haven’t had the good common sense to combine roasted [which I make often] with blanched with raw as a salad! Love the nutty dressing and inclusion of feta also – hmm, collecting quite a few of your recipes on my ‘use now’ kitchen shelf!!
Eha, the warm veg wilt the raw greens just a tiny bit, and makes it all a bit more like a main dish and less like a salad, if that makes sense! :)
Looks delish. I LOVE roast veggie salads with feta. I like the addition of seeds/nuts too.
Thanks Mel! The seeds and nuts were Pete’s idea – we raided his muesli stash! :)
I’m with Eha, Celia. Although I’m a big fan of roasted vegetables, I’ve not considered tossing them together with a few raw ingredients to make a salad. It’s such a wonderful idea, though, and a great way to being additional flavors to the salad bowl. Thanks for the inspiration; I can’t wait to give it a try on my own table.
Thanks John, I hope you love this! I was thinking it would be really nice with some non-vegetarian additions – a few anchovies perhaps… :)
Now that is a salad. I bet the roasted veggies make it so much more complex.
Greg, thank you! Yes, they really do! :)
Celia I have a bit of an oversupply of veges at the moment so this would be just perfect. I was thinking sausage rolls for dinner and this sounds like the perfect accompaniment.
Claire, I think it would be perfect with sausage rolls, or sausages for that matter! :)
Your salad looks incredible, Celia. I think i’ll try something similar this weekend.
Rachel, I hope you have fun with it – there are so many possibilities! :)
Even as a meat eater I could devour this and not miss the protein :)
Tandy, thanks for saying that – we are quite carnivorous here, but we didn’t miss the meat at all!
Yum Celia, looks delicious! We make something similar to this fairly often with seasonal vegetables as a side dish. I don’t often add nuts or seeds though, once again you have given me something new to experiment with :)
Jane, the nuts and seeds were Pete’s idea, and they add a really nice textural element to the dish! I hope you like it! :)
That looks like the perfect veg feast! So many complex flavors. I think one of the hardest thing for me, having been a vegetarian for fifteen years is eating away from home. Everyone else is tucking into steaks and gravy and the veggie eaters are left with a bland salad or bowl of boring pasta.
I like the pesto. Can’t wait for our basil to come in. Hugs, Maz.
Come! Come! I’ll make this for you! :)
Now I am intrigued by pumpkin seed oil! This dish looks great all up too – definitely a nice way of serving vegetables that puts stereotypes about ‘boring’ to rest.
Kari, it’s a recent discovery! Karen at Back Road Journal put me onto it! :)
That looks great as always Celia. Feta and a handful of nuts make most salads better. I added some quinoa to a similar salad with a tahini based dressing – very yum.
Jo, we must revisit quinoa – our first attempts with it weren’t positive, and we haven’t tried again! :)
I’m a big fan of roasted vegies mixed in with raw goodies. So many salad options to play with!
There really are, aren’t there, Brydie!
Hi Celia, I have just made your recipe for plum jam, plum sauce and chili jam, and the pectin is dripping ready for mother batch of plum jam tomorrow. Top recipes, they are all going to my “tried and terrific” folder. I miss you on Instagram, as I have just posted a picture of the days work.
Bye A
Hi Amanda! I miss you guys too, but it was too tricky to keep up with everything! Can you post you IG photos to your twitter account – I’ve just found and followed you there! :) Thanks for letting me know all the recipes worked, hope you and Dimity are well! x
Hi Celia, I was a bit slow getting to this but I want to say that I doubt that I’ll eat a better salad this year. That nut/seed mix was outstanding!
It was SO nice to be able to catch up, Craig! Hope it’s all going well down there! :)
I love a simple dinner of some rost veg and goats cheese – always a winner at our place :)
Ah the old question of flavour without having meat flavour…… herbs is my answer…. I also love grilled veggies and we often have them with some grilled haloumi cheese – nice and squeeky :)
I was vegetarian for 10 years and now eat only local sustainable meats, so we eat lots of vegetarian dishes. This looks delicious.
Thanks Clare! :)