Today we’re making a fresh grilled eggplant salad by adding a few more ingredients to make it more delicious and nutritious. You can grill the eggplants yourself or even roast them in an air fryer. To save time, you can use the frozen ones as they thaw quickly in summer.
The rest of the ingredients are: feta cheese, olives, and toasted pine nuts that give this salad a sort of Greek touch and also add some proteins and healthy fats, making this dish ideal not only as a side dish but also as a main course.
You can also prepare this vegetarian dish in advance, and it’s perfect as a takeaway meal to bring to work, to the beach, or for a picnic.
I recommend trying this salad, the flavors of the various ingredients blend perfectly, and everyone at home will love it.
Let’s prepare it, but I’ll leave you some other tasty and light recipes with eggplants here:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 2 People
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Air Fry
- Cuisine: Healthy
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer, and Autumn
Ingredients
- 3 eggplants
- 2 oz feta cheese (if you find a light version, you can use 3.5 oz)
- 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil (2 measuring teaspoons)
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic
- 20 green olives
- 0.35 oz pine nuts
- to taste fresh mint and basil
- to taste salt and pepper
- Total Points = 10 WW points
- Points per serving = 5 WW points
Tools
- Frying Pan
- Grill Pan
- Air Fryer
Preparation
First, toast the pine nuts in a non-stick pan: turn off the heat as soon as they start to brown and let them cool.
Clean the eggplants and slice them thinly, lengthwise or into rounds, as you prefer. I slice them lengthwise to have fewer slices and grill them faster, just out of pure laziness! Grill all the slices on a non-stick grill pan and then let them cool.
Alternatively, you can roast them in the air fryer following these instructions: How to roast eggplants in an air fryer. Or if you have them in the freezer, let them thaw completely.
In a glass, mix finely chopped garlic, mint, and basil with oil, balsamic vinegar, and a little salt and pepper. I also add a bit of cold water, and in summer, 2 ice cubes: nothing is ever cold enough when it’s hot!
If you don’t eat raw garlic, you can also cut it in half and remove it after a few minutes so that only the flavor remains in the emulsion.
Place the cooled grilled eggplants in a salad bowl and dress with the oil emulsion. When serving, add the crumbled feta, whole or halved olives, and toasted pine nuts. A little more mint and basil and voilà: our grilled eggplant salad is ready.
Both the Dutchman and I loved it. A truly 100% Mediterranean dish, light and tasty. It’s perfect to enjoy after a simple tomato pasta dish, thus having a second course and side dish together and making a complete and satisfying meal.
Enjoy your meal!
by Giovanna Buono
Can I use vegan feta?
Of course, you can, but you need to consider this dish as a side due to the lack of proteins in store-bought vegan feta. I recommend reducing the oil to one tablespoon because vegan feta is slightly fattier and has a few more points than regular feta.
If you make vegan feta yourself using tofu, you will have to recalculate the points for this recipe, and it will be suitable as a main course.
