Mediterranean Salad Cups Serves 6 as a first course
Mediterranean cuisine lends itself perfectly to spring with its light flavors. Baking the crêpes in small ramekins or Pyrex dishes creates ideal cups in which to serve salads. This technique also works well for dessert crêpes, filled with ice cream, mousse or fresh berries.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
6 Basic Breton Crêpes made without sugar or vanilla
5 cups diced eggplant
3 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped red onion
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 cup sliced fresh fennel
3 tablespoons capers
1/4 cup chopped kalamata olives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1. Heat oven to broil. Toss eggplant, tomatoes and red onion with 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Broil 30 minutes, until soft and slightly browned. The onions and tomatoes may take longer than the eggplant, so watch carefully and remove eggplant before it burns. Sauté fennel in 1 tablespoon olive oil, 5 minutes or until soft. Season to taste with salt.
2. Combine vegetables with capers and olives in a medium bowl. Refrigerate.
3. Thoroughly combine remaining olive oil with vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, oregano and black pepper. Set aside.
4. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. To make salad cups, mold squares of foil over the bottom of an inverted sour cream or cottage cheese container. Cover foil with individual crêpes and remove the foil and crêpes from the container; this will create upside-down crêpe "cups" that will become crisp when baked. Place each foil mold and crêpe on a baking sheet. Bake until crisp and golden brown, about 8 minutes. Cool.
5. When removed from the foil and inverted, the crêpes should look like individual serving bowls. While cups bake, toss salad thoroughly with dressing as desired. Fill each bowl with vegetable salad. Sprinkle with feta cheese.