Grilled Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Feta Cheese

This grilled vegetable salad is the perfect meal after a trip to your farmer’s market. Virtually any good grilling vegetable works for this recipe. The freshly grilled produce, feta cheese and balsamic vinegar all work very nicely. This grilled vegetable salad is also a great make ahead dish for when company is coming and it holds well and just add the cheese and toss with the vinaigrette just before serving.

4 entrée portions or 6 side salads

1 large eggplant sliced ½ inch thick or two to three small Japanese eggplant

1 red onion sliced ½ inch thick

2 zucchini small cut into ½ inch thick planks

1 yellow squash zucchini or crookneck cut into ½ inch thick planks

1 small leek light green and white portion only

2 portabella mushrooms large

4 green onions

1 radicchio quartered

4 carrots peeled and sliced into ½ inch planks

4 tomatoes best quality diced or if smaller quartered. These are not grilled.

2 tablespoons Italian flat leaf parsley finely chopped

3 tablespoons fresh herbs, basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary chives or mixture

1 cup raisins

1 cup feta cheese

1 cup Marcona almonds or pine nuts

½ cup olive oil for grilling vegetables

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 head baby lettuce or romaine lettuce
Balsamic Vinaigrette

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar good quality Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

¾ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

½ teaspoon Kosher or Sea Salt

Or alternate would be

4-5 tablespoons Traditional Balsamic Vinegar Di Modena

½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation

Wash and slice all vegetables. Lay them out on a sheet pan or platter. Combine olive oil (for grilling) and garlic. Lightly salt the vegetables if desired. Heat grill to medium high heat. Begin grilling vegetables being careful not to burn them, making nice crossed grill marks. The vegetables should be grilled “al dente” or around ¾ fully cooked. They will continue to cook after being pulled off the grill. When grilling the radicchio we really just want to put grill marks not fully cook it. Otherwise it will turn a rather unpleasant brown color.

As the vegetable have different cooking times, just line them up on the sheet pan or platter as they come off the grill line them up by type on the pan. It is ok for them to come to room temperature.

When your grilling is done, cut the vegetables into roughly ½ inch square and place them into a bowl. Wash and prepare your lettuce and layout on plates. Toss the cooked veggies with your fresh herbs and tomatoes, and then toss with the balsamic vinaigrette. Portion out the vegetables onto the plates top with the feta cheese and chopped Marcona almonds or pine nuts.

Enjoy!

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