Successful restaurateur and TV personality Angelo Georgalli serves up simple, user-friendly recipes in his latest publication, Angelo’s Wild Kitchen, bringing wholesome nutritious cooking into reach for the whole family.
Salads can be as filling as you want them to be.
If there's one thing I've discovered in the last year of getting my body and mind healthy, it's that a salad is a meal, not just a side.
I love sitting down to a good, big salad now, full of amazing tastes and flavours from Greece, the pep of chilli, the creamy salt of feta, the fresh tang of vine-ripened tomatoes - oh yum, is it time for lunch yet?
Angelo's Greek Salad
Prep: 30min; cooking time: 5-10min
Serves 4 as a side dish
Ingredients
3 Lebanese cucumbers
5 vine-ripened tomatoes
¼ red onion
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ red capsicum/pepper, sliced
pinch of chilli flakes
pinch of lemon pepper
½ tsp fennel seeds
½ tsp coriander seeds (crushed with mortar and pestle)
120g feta cheese, chopped into 1cm cubes
Pinch of turmeric
½ cup Kalamata olives
1 Tbsp avocado oil
juice of ½ a lemon
½ Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
½ Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
salt and pepper
To serve
1 tsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
avocado oil
extra virgin olive oil
Method
Slice cucumbers very thinly lengthways and then into thirds on an angle. Use a mandolin slicer if you have one. Set aside in a bowl.
Cut tomatoes into 10 wedges. You want these to be so small and cute rather than big and chunky. Place these sweet babies in bowl with cucumber.
Slice onion into thin rings. Add to cucumber and tomato in bowl.
Heat a medium saucepan over high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add capsicum, chilli flakes, lemon pepper, fennel seeds and coriander seeds. Toss through, making sure capsicum is coated, and then place in a separate bowl and let cool. Watch those coriander seeds, they do like to dance!
Using the same pan that was used for the capsicum, add feta and toss until coated in oil. Once coated, sprinkle with turmeric. Set aside in a dish to cool.
Add olives and cooled capsicums to the cucumber mixture. Add avocado oil, remaining extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice.
Sprinkle with rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Toss gently, using your hands.
Serve in a salad bowl and sprinkle with parsley. Drizzle with avocado oil and extra olive oil before serving.
Tip
You don't want to cook the feta cheese for more than 30 seconds; it's just a flash in the pan to coat in oil and warm through.
