Grilled Vegetable Salad with Mint & Pomegranate

(Serves 6 or more)

I originally planned this as a Boxing Day salad to go with leftover lamb but it’s so gorgeous it has become a stand-alone dish. It’ll be fabulous with a tarragon roast chicken, lamb kebabs or roast duck, or with Greek, Turkish or Middle Eastern vegetable dishes.

Photo: Food to Love

Ingredients

• 1 cup thick Greek-style yoghurt
• 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp each chopped marjoram, rosemary and thyme
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium-sized eggplant
• 4 slim zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 each red and yellow pepper
• 2-3 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 20 mint leaves
• fresh pomegranate seeds, optional
• pomegranate molasses for drizzling
• flatbreads for serving, optional

Method

1 Drain yoghurt in a sieve lined with paper towels while preparing the vegetables.

2 Put oil in a bowl with marjoram, rosemary and thyme. Add 1Ž2 tsp salt and plenty of freshly round black pepper. Thinly slice eggplant into rounds and add to bowl. Toss gently. Thinly slice zucchini and add to bowl, tossing well.

Cook vegetables in a hot ridged grill pan, or on a preheated oiled barbecue hotplate until golden. Transfer vegetables to a platter as they are done, and season with salt and pepper; don’t rinse the bowl they were tossed in.

3 Preheat oven to 190°C (fanbake). Cut peppers in half and remove the cores and seeds. Cut peppers into chunks and toss in bowl with remaining seasoned oil. Transfer to a shallow roasting dish, scraping in any oil from the bowl, and roast for about 20 minutes, stirring twice, until coloured and just starting to soften down. Season with salt and pepper and add to platter of vegetables.

Put sesame seeds in an ovenproof dish and toast for 5-7 minutes, until golden.

4 Transfer drained yoghurt to a bowl and beat until smooth. Spoon blobs of yoghurt over the vegetables. Scatter mint leaves on top (if large, tear into smaller pieces). Scatter with pomegranate seeds if using, then drizzle with pomegranate molasses and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately, with flatbreads.