Recipes › Sweet Pepper › Sweet Pepper, Chickpea and Feta Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing
Sweet Pepper, Chickpea and Feta Salad with Smoked Paprika Dressing
Raw sweet peppers have a juicy crunch and clean sweetness that gets completely lost if you cook them, and this salad is built around that. Thick strips of fresh pepper are tossed with nutty chickpeas, salty crumbled feta and a warm, smoky paprika dressing that ties it all together. It takes fifteen minutes, works as a main lunch or a generous side, and is genuinely better at room temperature than it is straight from the fridge.
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Ingredients
- 5 Sweet peppers, deseeded, cut into 1.5cm strips
- 400 g Tinned chickpeas, drained and rinsedbutter beans work equally well here
- 200 g Feta cheese, broken into rough chunks
- 1 Red onion, very thinly sliced
- 20 g Fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, leaves and fine stems
- 60 ml Extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp Red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp Smoked paprika
- ½ tsp Ground cumin
- 1 cloves Garlic, very finely minced or grated
- 1 tsp Honeyuse maple syrup to make the dressing vegan
- ½ tsp Fine sea salt
- 1 pinch Black pepper, freshly ground
Contains: milk, sulphites.
Method
- Put the sliced red onion in a small bowl, cover with cold water and leave to soak for 5 minutes. This takes the raw edge off the onion without losing its crunch. Drain and pat dry with a piece of kitchen paper.About 5 min
- Make the dressing by whisking together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, smoked paprika, cumin, garlic, honey, salt and pepper in a small bowl until emulsified. Taste and adjust — it should be punchy and slightly smoky.
- In a large wide bowl or on a serving platter, combine the pepper strips, drained chickpeas and drained red onion. Pour over three-quarters of the dressing and toss well so everything is evenly coated.
- Scatter the feta chunks over the top and drizzle with the remaining dressing. Finish with the chopped parsley and a final grinding of black pepper. Serve within 30 minutes — the peppers soften if left too long in the dressing.
Tips
- Use a mix of red, yellow and orange peppers for the best flavour and a beautiful plate — green peppers are more bitter and less sweet here.
- Soaking the red onion is a small step that makes a genuine difference — without it the raw onion can dominate the whole dish.
- The dressing can be made up to 3 days ahead and kept in a jar in the fridge — shake well before using.
Ring the changes
- Add 150g of halved cherry tomatoes or a handful of stoned olives to bulk this out further.
- To make it vegan, replace the feta with a firm, well-seasoned vegan cheese block and swap the honey for maple syrup.
Keeping it
Best eaten on the day it is made. If you have leftovers, store without the feta and parsley for up to 1 day in the fridge — add fresh feta and herbs before serving. The peppers release water overnight so the salad will be wetter when it reappears.
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