Another recipe from that Spanish dinner. I cannot vouch for its Spanish authenticity. I based it loosely on this Laurie Black recipe for a Spanish Pepper Salad. I played around with the dressing, and added black olives, goat’s cheese and prosciutto, but hopefully I’m still allowed to use Spanish in the title.

The resulting salad has lovely smokey, salty flavours which I love, and they’re set against the creamy goat’s cheese and sweet capsicums and tomatoes. Drool. You may note that capsicums (capsica?) are not present in the photograph. That was a sad story. I forgot they were in the oven while I was dealing with my rogue beef empanada dough. Let’s just say the capsicums were more char than grill. But what the hey, I figure that from a menu of 9 new (to me) dishes, a bit of burnt capsicum and a “deconstructed” version of empanadas wasn’t too bad!

Spanish Salad with Smokey Dressing
Serves 4-6 as part of a tapas spread

Vinaigrette:
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp olive oil
flakey sea salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Salad:
3-4 tomatoes
1 large red capsicum
cos lettuce leaves
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
60-80g creamy goat’s cheese, sliced or cubed
50g very thinly slice prosciutto, sliced or diced

To make the vinaigrette, whisk all ingredients together. Adjust the seasoning to taste and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters, whatever you prefer (I find quarters are a little more manageable when it comes to the eating), and cut the capsicum in half. Place the tomatoes and capsicum on a tray or dish lined with baking paper – capsicum skin side up, and tomatoes cut flesh side up. You could drizzle them with a little olive oil if you like; I just popped mine straight in the oven. I think they take about 40 minutes, but keep a close eye on them (see above). Once the tomatoes are looking roasted (like in the photo), and the capsicum skin has started to blister, take them out. While they’re still hot, pop the capsicums in a plastic bag to cool. Then when they’re cool enough to handle, the skins should peel off easily. Slice the capsicum thinly.

You know, if you were in a hurry, you could always buy sliced roasted capsicum from the deli. You could also use semi-dried tomatoes, or I imagine you could find viable alternatives to roasting the tomatoes at a good deli.

Starting with the cos leaves, assemble the salad ingredients on a serving platter, and drizzle with vinaigrette just before serving.