Disparate measures: make a salad of unlikely things for some flavour surprises

4 Sep 2024

Use the old trick of rubbing the inside of a salad bowl with cut garlic so that everything in the salad will have a gentle infusion of garlic once everything is tossed in it. But wait, there’s more…

It’s the small things that make a difference to a salad. Such as rubbing the bowl with cut garlic, being creative with the dressing, and adding some crunch (nuts, seeds, croutons) or a tangy element such as olives, capers or cheese, grated or chopped.

For a dressing for this salad – a simple affair with symmetry in mind – I rubbed the bowl vigorously with two connected garlic cloves that I had cut through the middle, and finished the concoction with a dressing of ponzu (a citrusy Asian condiment you can buy in jars by that name), tamari soy sauce (rich Japanese soy which is less salty than Chinese soy sauce), and seasoned rice vinegar, which is ideal for a salad dressing, adding both saltiness and sweetness.

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Having said the above (about adding crunch, etcetera), I did not want croutons, seeds or nuts in this particular salad. Nor did I opt for olives or capers on this occasion. Rather, my hand found the little jar of pink pickled ginger, as in sushi ginger, in the fridge. This is an ingredient often overlooked, which I find strange: it’s such an obvious choice for giving a little kick of interest to a salad, a dressing (very finely chopped so that it melds into the liquid elements of the dressing) or a wok dish. It doesn’t have to be reserved for sushi.

The salad is in two parts: julienne strips of red, yellow and green peppers (capsicum) are arranged in a wide concentric circle, and halved roma tomatoes are arranged on top. In the centre is a pile of finely chopped Dalewood Fromage full cream jersey feta (no messing about there), and it’s all drizzled with the Asian dressing.

The point is that there are a lot of points of flavour interest throughout. Finally, I drizzled more ponzu around to be sure that the Asian elements shone through.

Two additional elements were fresh basil and spring onions.

Bell pepper salad with baby tomatoes and Jersey feta

(Serves 4-8 as a side dish)

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves cut through, to rub the bowl

1 each red, yellow and green capsicum

12 baby Roma tomatoes, halved

2 slim spring onions, finely chopped

1 cup of chopped or crumbled Dalewood Fromage Jersey feta

Handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

For the dressing:

3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar

1 tsp Tamari soy sauce

1 Tbsp Ponzu

2 Tbsp finely chopped sushi ginger

Black pepper to taste

Method

Slice right through two connected garlic cloves (i.e. stuck together) and rub the inside of the bowl all over vigorously.

Separate the capsicums in their natural sections (follow the spines as it were) and remove all the unwanted bits and pieces (variously named the seeds, pedicel, calyx, capsaicin glands and placenta, would you believe). Slice into thin strips. Place them around the bowl, in unison.

Top them with halved baby roma tomatoes and sprinkle finely chopped spring onion over.

In a small bowl, mix the crumbled or chopped feta with the torn basil and spoon it into the centre of the salad.

Mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl and drizzle it all over the salad. Drizzle some extra ponzu sauce around the exposed parts of the peppers. DM

Tony Jackman is Galliova Food Writer 2023, jointly with TGIFood columnist Anna Trapido. Order his book, foodSTUFF, here.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed in a bowl by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.

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