Abelicious Antipasto Salad

A friend of mine always calls me Abelicious and when I made this recipe it was so delicious I decided to give it a name, instead of Grilled Peppers and Artichoke Salad. It is a combination of a few recipes that I combined and think justice was done. Its nice and tangy and goes really well with the Onion Gratin.  If you have a lovely crusty bread to soak up the balsamic dressing even better. I don't know why but for some reason I had such a craving for Artichokes - maybe because I was so in the mood for Gino's pizza with my favourite topping (artichokes, ham and black olives).... Hmmm, I really should learn not blog when I am hungry!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Large Red Pepper

1 Large Yellow Pepper

1 400g tin Artichokes

a nice big bunch of Fresh Parsley 

1 Feta Cheese Wheel

1 packet pitted Olives - I used a combination of black and calamata olives

1/2 red onion - finely sliced into half rings

3 Cloves of Garlic - finely diced or crushed

125 ml White Balsamic Vinegar

60ml Olive Oil

good pinch of Cayenne Pepper

Season with freshl ground sea salt and black pepper

METHOD:

We will grill the peppers. If you are one of those lucky people with a griddle pan you can use that to grill your peppers. However I don't so I did mine in the oven.

Cut your peppers in half - length ways, and put in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle with a little oil. Place under the grill until the skin is blackened and charred. Don't worry about it going black - that way it makes it easier to peel the skin off. Once its nicely charred, place immediately in a plastic bag, seal and allow to cool.

In the meantime, drain and discard the liquid in the tin of artichokes. Cut the artichokes in 4 wedges. 

Once your peppers has cooled off - peel them and slice into smaller/thinner pieces. Place in a salad bowl.

Add your artichokes, garlic, onion, crumble the feta cheese, and olives to the peppers.

Take a small saucepan, and add the white balsamic vinegar, olive oil and cayenne pepper to just before boiling.

Pour over the salad.

Finely chop the parsley and sprinkle over the salad, season with salt and pepper.

Toss until everything is evenly coated and well mixed.

Put in the fridge until ready for serving. 

This is one of these dishes that taste even better the next day as the vinegar has managed to almost pickle the peppers. 

Enjoy!!!!