Roasted Pepper, Feta and Strawberry Salad

Whenever the sun shines, and boy has it been shining, I always crave salads and fruit. Its just something about the sun and summer that makes me go a little healthy eating over board. A typical day for me in the summer is a bowl of fresh fruit for breakfast with strawberries from mums garden, a salad for lunch like this one and then for dinner I will have fish with salad ... think I might turn into a rabbit with all the leaves im eating! I love eating al fresco so this weather is the perfect excuse to sit outside and enjoy some fresh ingredients straight from the garden onto the plate! I wanted to share this recipe as it's so simple and easy to make yet it is so delicious and sophisticated all your friends and family will want the recipe. Salads don't have to be boring, especially now its BBQ weather, finally!

Now you might be thinking 'strawberries in a salad? has she gone mad?' sometimes I think I have but not today! As we have them coming out of our ear holes at home, mums garden has been very generous this year, I thought I would try using them in this salad. I cut them into small strips, you only need a handful. Alongside the earthy feta and the smokiness of the peppers they add a real sweetness to the salad. They are like hidden gems among the treasure chest of flavour, blending into the background of their bigger counterparts but once you get a mouthful of them next to the feta they burst open in your mouth releasing a flavour sensation. Have I sold it to you yet? Trust me when I say, it will change the way you think about salads in the future!

Of course you can not go wrong with feta and roasted peppers as they complement each other so well. I grilled my peppers first on a griddle pan with a little drizzle of olive oil until they were charred on the skin side as this adds a smokey flavour to them. I then placed them in the oven to roast until soft. I also made a little dressing to drizzle over the salad once it was assembled. Just a simple olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt dressing, nothing too fancy, makes all the difference and I find that the sea salt helps to bring out the flavours of the dish.

Ingredients 

Makes 2 portions 

Bag of baby leaf salad

Half a yellow pepper 

Half a red pepper 

Handful of strawberries 

50g Feta cheese 

Dressing

Juice of half a lemon 

2 Tbsp Olive oil 

Pinch of sea salt 

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 4. 

Take a griddle pan or a frying pan and drizzle with olive oil. Cut your peppers into strips and place on the pan once its hot, skin side facing down. Leave to cook for around five - ten minutes until the skins start to char-grill, place onto an oven proof dish and place in the oven for 20 minutes until soft. Take out of the oven and leave to cool slightly. 

Taking a serving dish place the bag of leaves on to it spreading them across the dish. Take the strawberries and cut into slices and sprinkle across the leaves. Cut the feta cheese into rough cubes and then sprinkle over the salad. Once the peppers have cooled slightly place over the salad. 

To make the dressing place all the ingredients into a small jug and whisk together until well combined, if you feel it needs more oil or seasoning add to your taste and then drizzle over the salad. And there you have it! A perfect simple, quick and easy salad that is sure to impress everyone, why not try it when you next have a BBQ!