I served this to some non-paleo eaters and they couldn’t believe that what they were eating was all vegetable and nothing else. As I’ve said before, if people have never had cauliflower rice they think they’re eating couscous/rice. This recipe simply combines roasted vegetables with cauliflower rice and a few other ingredients to made a delicious paleo vegetarian dish or as a side dish or even breakfast if you have left overs. You can add or remove vegetables from the recipe as you please but this combination is once I like to make and remind me of the Mediterranean.

Mediterranean Vegetable Salad

Preparation to Plate: 40 Minutes

Serves 1-6 people

Keep refrigerated

Consume within 3 days

Ingredients:

1 Aubergine, chopped

1 Courgettes/Zucchini, chopped

1 Medium Green Pepper

6 Mushrooms, halved

Handful of Cherry Tomatoes

Handful of Black Olives, pitted

Cauliflower Rice

Olive Oil

6 Cloves of Garlic, whole and unpeeled

1 tbsp Oregano, dried of fresh

1 tbsp Thyme, dried or fresh

4-6 Fresh Mint Leaves, roughly chopped

Salt & Pepper

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF). In a large roasting tin add the chopped vegetables, cherry tomatoes and garlic cloves. Add a generous amount of olive oil and sprinkle over the dried herbs; this should be done to taste, if I had to put an amount on it I’d say it would be about 1 tablespoon of each but you don’t need to be exact here. Season with salt and pepper (I personally prefer white and black pepper) and put in the preheated over for 40 minutes. If you have your own way you like to roast vegetables then please use that method, there are many ways to roast vegetables; this is just one.

While the vegetables are roasting you can make the Cauliflower Rice, please follow the link for my own take on it. Once the vegetables and cauliflower rice are cooked simple mix the two together. Add the olives, fresh mint, drizzle on more extra virgin olive oil and season as you desire with salt and pepper. Place in a large bowel to serve.

For Shift Workers:

This recipe is the right amount for just one person to eat over the next few days as it really shouldn’t be kept for more than 3 days. Once made, allow to cool before refrigerating and simply serve up in the morning into your Tupperware before you go to work.