Recipe for grilled vegetable salad

Here's a tasty vegetable combination that will help keep your heart healthy.

Preparation: 25 minutes 

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves 6 

• 1 medium eggplant (350 g/3⁄4 lb)
• 1 small bulb fennel (175 g/6 oz), trimmed
• 1 medium yellow zucchini
• 1 medium green zucchini
• 2 ml (1⁄2 tsp) salt
• 1 small red pepper, halved through stem end and seeded
• 3 plum tomatoes, halved through stem end and seeded
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 5 ml (1 tsp) finely chopped fresh marjoram or 2 ml (1⁄2 tsp) dried
• 22 ml (1 1⁄2 tbsp) balsamic vinegar

1. Preheat a barbecue or electric grill to medium-high heat. Slice the eggplant, fennel and zucchini lengthwise into one-centimetre-thick (half-inch-thick) pieces. Sprinkle with half the salt and coat with cooking spray.
2.  Barbecue pepper, skin side down, until the skin is blackened and blistered, or three to four minutes. Cook eggplant, fennel and zucchini on one side until grill marks are dark brown but vegetables are still very firm, or about four minutes. Turn over and barbecue until browned and just tender, or about three minutes for zucchini and five to six minutes longer for eggplant and fennel.
3. Coat cut sides of tomatoes with cooking spray. Barbecue, cut sides down, just until light grill marks appear, or three minutes.
4.  Heat oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add garlic, marjoram and remaining salt. Sauté one minute.
5.  Peel grilled pepper and cut into thin strips. Cut the rest of the vegetables into bite-sized chunks. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add olive oil mixture and vinegar. Toss to coat and serve at room temperature.

Per serving: 85 calories, 2 g protein, 5 g fat (including 1 g saturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 10 g carbohydrates, 4 g fibre, 211 mg sodium.

Eggplants soak up oil during cooking, which is one of the drawbacks from a health point of view. Some have a bitter taste, but this is easily eliminated with salt before cooking.

• Wipe off the salt and dry the slices before cooking. The salting not only removes bitter juices, it reduces the amount of moisture, making it less oil-absorbent.
• When eggplant is used as the basis of a dip, such as Middle Eastern baba ghanoush, however, it is often baked whole or boiled until the flesh is soft enough to mash, avoiding the oil issue altogether.