Eating Healthy with Summer Salads! 

I always thought Med salad was a tad, well, ordinary. You know, iceberg lettuce, tomato, black olives and chunks of feta, but after a delightful lunch with a friend at the lovely Maestral restaurant in Weston, I was inspired to try a Med with a twist. Try it—you’ll love it!

LFW Mediterranean Salad (serves 4)

What you need

Large bowl assorted salad leaves (we used cos, butter, baby spinach leaves, iceberg, and rocket)

8 baby Roma tomatoes halved

1 small Lebanese cucumber sliced

12 pitted black olives

1 small red capsicum finely sliced

Couple of slices of finely sliced red onion (go light on the onion as it can be a bit overpowering)

1 small marinated artichoke sliced (buy fresh from the deli)

Small block soft feta finely crumbled

Dressing

2 tablespoon Extra Virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

1/4 teaspoon finely chopped red chilli*

What you do

Heat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Place the Roma tomatoes on small, lightly oiled oven tray, drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Mix the salad dressing with a whisk so it all blends together. Gently toss the lettuce mix, sliced cucumber, black olives, sliced artichoke, capsicum, red onion, and roast tomatoes in a large bowl with the salad dressing. Sprinkle the crumbled feta over the salad and serve immediately

Serve with seafood or lamb steaks. Delish!

*The small amount of chilli gives it just a very light kick—you don’t want to overwhelm the salad.

Maestral specialises in Croatian food from the Dalmatian region and is slightly tucked away across the road from Cooleman Court. Worth a look, and Soft Shell Chilli Crab with Mediterranean Salad is highly recommended!