Turkish Bread & Roasted Vegetable Salad
We are big fans of ‘fattouche’ salads, which tumble torn pieces of Arabic bread into a mix of chopped garden vegetables. The bread is usually toasted or, better still, fried, which adds an appealing crunch factor. This recipe uses Turkish bread, fried in a spicy paste, which is more substantial and adds pleasing bulk and texture
Ingredients
- 4 long red peppers. Choose a mixture of red orange and yellow ones, if you can
- 8 shallots unpeeled
- 8 cloves garlic unpeeled
- 80 ml olive oil
- 2-3 tbsp butter
- 4 baby courgettes halved lengthways
- 8 good-quality slow-dried tomatoes roughly chopped
- 1 loaf of Turkish bread or a ciabatta, roughly torn into large chunks
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp Turkish red pepper paste
- 80 ml extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp salted baby capers well rinsed
- 2 tsp sherry vinegar
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 cup basil leaves roughly torn
- 1 cup lamb’s lettuce or rocket leaves
- Greek-style yoghurt to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC.
- Arrange the peppers, shallots and garlic on a foil-lined baking tray and rub with a little oil.
- Roast for 25 minutes, turning once, until the skins blister and char.
- Remove the peppers from the oven and transfer them to a shallow bowl.
- Cover with cling fi lm and leave to steam for 10 minutes, which loosens the skins and makes them easier to peel.
- Continue roasting the garlic for another 5 minutes, then transfer it to a different bowl.
- Lower the oven temperature to 160ºC. and continue roasting the shallots for a further 10 minutes, then remove them from the oven and add to the bowl with the shallots.
- When all the vegetables are cool enough to handle, peel away the skins from the peppers and pull out and discard the seeds and membranes.
- Slice the peppers into wide strips, making sure you retain any of the roasting juices.
- Squeeze the garlic out of its skins and set aside to make the dressing.
- Peel away the shallot skins and slice the soft roasted fl esh in half.
- Transfer all the roasted vegetables, together with any juices, to a mixing bowl.
- Heat a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan and saute the courgette slices over a medium-high heat for a few minutes, turning regularly, until they colour a deep golden brown.
- Transfer to the mixing bowl, along with the roasted tomatoes.
- Add a little more butter and oil to the pan and heat to a sizzle.
- Add the Turkish bread and season with salt and pepper.
- Fry over medium heat, turning regularly, until it starts to crisp and colour.
- Add the pepper paste and saute for a further 3-4 minutes, until the bread has absorbed the paste and colours a reddish brown.
- Remove from the pan and set aside for a moment.
- Lower the heat and add the extra-virgin olive oil to the pan.
- Add the reserved garlic and the capers and saute for a minute or two, squishing the garlic to a paste.
- Don’t allow it to brown.
- Add the sherry vinegar and lemon juice and increase the heat to a simmer.
- Let it bubble for a few minutes then pour onto the vegetables.
- Add the bread to the bowl, along with the basil leaves and lamb’s lettuce, and toss everything together very gently.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning if need be, then serve warm or at room temperature with cool, creamy yoghurt.