BLOOD ORANGE AND FETA SALAD

This salad has similarities to the ‘Blood Orange, Fennel and Beet Salad’ – well for a start you’ll be using blood orange and beetroot rounds as two of its main ingredients – however the addition of feta cheese, roasted cumin seeds and ground pistachios, lend it a uniquely middle-eastern aroma and richness.

It works brilliantly well as a side dish for fillet of beef, chicken or halloumi kebabs, especially if you marinate any of the above in pomegranate molasses from the night before grilling.

The clean, fresh and intense flavours make this a perfect summer lunch dish.

INGREDIENTS – Serves 6 – 8 as a side dish

8 blood oranges – peeled and sliced neatly into rounds
5 – 6 red beetroots – leaves removed, boiled and sliced into rounds
2 small red onions – sliced into fine rounds on a mandolin
Feta cheese
A handful of fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
A handful of pistachios – shelled and crushed
Zest of 2 limes

For the dressing:
120 ml olive oil
120 ml red wine vinegar
1 level teaspoon sugar
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

LOVELADLES

METHOD

Prepare the beetroot bulbs by boiling them for about 30 minutes, then carefully peeling off their outer skin. Slice them into thin rounds.
Peel and slice the blood oranges. Take care to remove all the pith before you slice them into rounds.

Remove the skin from the red onions and slice them into thin rounds using a mandolin.
Cut the feta cheese into small, ½ cm thick rectangles.
Now arrange all the above on a large, flat serving platter so that the different elements overlap attractively.