Pomegranate, Feta & Beetroot Salad

Just before Christmas I was chatting to my best friend in South Africa via Skype. In between all the usual catching up she pounced this question on me, "We're taking a salad to Christmas Eve lunch with the family, do you know a nice salad to make? Something that's not the usual boring lettuce leaves and cucumber combo."

I know I'm brilliant *cough* but good gosh, thanks for that. Now I'm the off-the-top-of-your-head recipe idea lady. lol! Normally I get my ideas when I'm standing in the market with a whole bunch of ingredients in front of me. I told her I'd have a think about it.

We carried on chatting but then her mom-in-law decided to say hi as well, and then it came again. She wanted a nice idea for a Christmassy salad. Now I was on the spot, thankfully my brain was functioning that day! Something that popped into my head was pomegranate.

I remembered that around November and December, Woolworth's (M&S) would bring out things more seasonal for Christmas, one of these things was pomegranate. They'd have things like fruit salads with pomegranate and Christmas spices. It seemed like the perfect thing for a Christmas lunch in hot and sunny SA. After that popped into my head, the rest came along without too much mental strain ;)

Mixed lettuce leaves, feta, pomegranate & cherry tomatoes. They loved that idea, it was different and interesting and the colours would be lovely; bright red with the tomatoes and lovely little pomegranate gems, white feta and different hues of green. Although I'm certainly not the first person to think of this combo, I was pretty chuffed with myself all the same ;)

When I decided I wanted to get this posted before pomegranates weren't on the shelves anymore, it developed a little more. I find the selection of lettuce to be a little limited here, but mixed leave bags are pretty good, they normally include types of lettuce that I can't find individually. I came across a bag of mixed leaves that also had raw beetroot in it. Beautiful colours! Would be perfect, not just in colour, but in taste as well. The beetroot would be an earthy sort of sweet, while the pomegranate would give little bursts of juicy sweetness against the salty feta. Yum!

Whether you're in full hot summer and enjoying this with a barbeque (braai!) or wrapped up in the cold and having soup, this salad is a lovely mix of flavours that will liven up any meal.

Ingredients

Mixed Lettuce Leaves

1 Raw Beetroot, julienne or grated

1 Pomegranate

Feta

Cherry Tomatoes

Dressing

Balsamic Vinegar

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Method

Wash and dry the lettuce
Roughly tear the leaves into smaller pieces
Cut cherry tomatoes in half
Combine & toss lettuce, tomatoes, cubed or crumbled feta and beetroot in a serving bowl
Remove seeds from the pomegranate
Throw the seeds over the top of the salad
Dress with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt & pepper