Grilled Vegetable Salad with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

Grilled Vegetable Salad with Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

Vinaigrette:

2 large                          heads garlic

1/3 cup                         lemon juice

4 tsp.                            extra-virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp.                        water

¼ cup                           coarsely chopped cilantro

Salt and pepper to taste                             

Salad: 

1                                med. sweet potato, cut into 1″ cubes                           

2                                plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise

1                                red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise & seeded

1 med.                    Vidalia or other sweet onion, cut into ½” thick slices

1 small                    eggplant, cut into ½”: thick rounds

1 Tbsp.                    extra-virgin olive oil

1/3 cup                   pitted and chopped Kalamata or other black olives

8 cups                      torn romaine lettuce leaves

2 cups                      garlic croutons, optional

Salt and pepper to taste

                  To prepare vinaigrette roast garlic and when it is cool enough to handle, squeeze the cloves out of their skins into a blender or food processor.  Add lemon juice, oil and water and blend until smooth.  Transfer to a small bowl, stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper.

 Preheat grill to medium-high.   To prepare the salad place sweet potato in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Cook until just tender, about 6-8 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl.  Add tomatoes, bell pepper, onion and eggplant.  Add oil, salt and pepper and toss gently.  Grill the vegetables until softened and browned, about 5 minutes per side, removing them as they are done.  When cool enough to handle, cut into bite-size pieces.  Toss the vegetables and olives with half of the vinaigrette in a bowl.  Toss romaine with the remaining vinaigrette on a platter.  Mound the vegetables on the lettuce and top with croutons, if using.

Yields 6 servings.

 Nutritional Info. Per Serving:  Calories  227;  Fat  8 g;  Carbohydrate  36 g;  Protein  6 g;  Fiber  7 g