Grilled Salad
Salata Mishwiyya
Region: Tunisia
Category: Salads
Season: Summer
Difficulty: Easy but special equipment needed

  The ingredients of this salad, the New World tomatoes and peppers having been introduced by the Spanish, are all grilled, then tossed together. It is a very popular salad throughout the country, and one is likely to encounter it many times in travels to Tunisia. I first ate it in Djerba, where it typically accompanies other grilled food. You can double the recipe easily. This grilled salad is probably related historically to the escalivada salad of Catalonia.

Yield: Makes 4 servings
Preparation Time: 50 minutes

1/2 pound ripe, but firm, tomatoes     2 green bell peppers (about 3/4 pound)     4 fresh red chili peppers (about 1/2 pound)     1 medium-size onion, peeled and quartered     2 garlic cloves, peeled     4 1/2 teaspoons caraway seed

3/4 teaspoon salt     3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil     1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice     24 imported black olives, pitted or whole     1 3 1/2-ounce can imported tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked apart     2 hard-boiled eggs, shelled and quartered

1. Prepare a hot charcoal fire or preheat a gas grill on high for 20 minutes. Grill the tomatoes, peppers, and onion until all have blackened and blistered peels or black grid marks, about 15 minutes for the smaller peppers and tomatoes, and about 20 to 25 minutes for the bell peppers and onion.

2. Peel and seed the grilled vegetables, cut them up, and place in a food processor. Process with 4 or 5 short pulses and transfer to a medium-size bowl.

3. Pound the garlic, caraway seeds, and salt together in a mortar with a pestle until almost a paste, then stir into the grilled vegetables. Arrange on a platter, drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice, and garnish with the olives, pieces of tuna, and quartered eggs.

Posted: 01/11/2007

Referenced Recipes:

Catalan Vegetable Medley