Greek Salad with Samphire and Rosemary Salted Herrings

This is another one of those lovely warm salad I've been enjoying. The original recipe called for sardines, but herring was just as good. It also gave instructions for pickling the samphire but I didn't have the time so I just cooked it quickly and added it to the salad. Yummy!

Greek Salad with Samphire and Rosemary Salted Herring

(From The Sunday Times)

(Serves 4)

For the dressing
2 tbsp sherry vinegar
1 tsp mustard
squeeze of lemon
handful of mint, finely chopped
parsley, finely chopped
few leaves of oregano, finely chopped
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp sea salt
5 tbsp olive oil

120g samphire 

For the salad
25g sea salt
2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves
4-8 herrings, butterflied
500g heritage tomatoes, cut into different sizes
1 red onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 baby cucumber, sliced into 1cm discs
100g pitted kalamata olives
250g good-quality feta cheese, cut in half lengthways

First make the dressing; place the sherry vinegar, mustard, lemon, mint, parsley, oregano, sugar, salt and olive oil into a food processor and blend for 1 min. Transfer to a small bowl.

Bring a small pan of water to the boil and add the samphire, cook for 1 min, drain and then run under the cold tap.

Blend the salt and rosemary in a food processor until well mixed, then sprinkle over the sardines. Heat a barbecue or griddle pan with a little oil and fry the sardines skin side down for 3 minutes until lightly charred. Flip over and fry for another 2 minutes. 

In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, red onion, pepper, cucumber and olives. Toss with the dressing. Top with the feta and more dressing if needed. Serve the samphire and sardines on the side.