This Sun-dried tomato with avocado & poppy seed salad is an all-season salad full of tomatoey goodness no matter what the season!
The secret to this easy all-round salad is in the Sun-Dried Tomato dressing, which adds a beautiful deep tomatoey flavour. Serve it in summer or add some chilli to the dressing for a warming winter salad.
Table of contents
What are sun-dried tomatoes?
Clearly sun-dried tomatoes are tomatoes that have been dried in the sun to remove all their moisture content leaving behind a fragrantly sweet tomatoey flavour full of summer goodness.
It is well worth the effort to dry your tomatoes at home as store-bought ones tend to be tough and chewy without that rich tomatoey flavour. It is best to use summer tomatoes as that is when they are most abundant and at their flavoursome peak.
How to make this salad
1PREP VEG
Cut off the end and any damaged outer leaves of your lettuce. Separate the leaves and wash them carefully under cold running water, shake them and either pat dry or spin dry in a salad spinner.
Rinse, trim and peel your carrot and cucumber then cut into thin rounds for the carrots and slightly thicker rounds for the cucumber.
Remove the core and seeds from your bullhorn pepper, rinse under cold water then cut into rounds.
Wash and peel your avocado, cut into chunks and squeeze some lemon over the top so that it does not brown.
Cut your dried tomatoes into strips, I used my kitchen scissors to do this as it is much faster.
WASH THE LETTUCE PAT OR SPIN DRY SHRED LETTUCE SLICE BULLHORN CAPSICUM THINLY SLICE CARROTS INTO ROUNDS CUT YOUR CUCUMBER INTO ROUNDS DICE AVOCADO & ADD LEMON JUICE
2MAKE THE SUN-DRIED TOMATO DRESSING
Cut your dried tomatoes into small pieces, use your kitchen scissors. Mince your garlic then place them in a small food processor or high-speed blender.
Add your oil and vinegar, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper.
Blitz them all together and add enough water to make it the consistency of mayonnaise.
ADD INGREDIENTS TO BLENDER BLITZ UNTIL COMBINED & SMOOTH
3ASSEMBLE THE SALAD
Place all your prepared vegetables, the poppy seeds and the chopped dill in a large mixing bowl, season and toss to combine.
Add the dried tomato dressing and mix well, if you find that it is too thick, drizzle some oil over the top to make it easier to mix together.
Taste your salad and adjust seasonings according to your taste. Serve and enjoy.
ADD ALL INGREDIENTS TO A BOWL TOSS WELL TO COMBINE
Can I make it ahead?
- You can prepare the vegetables a few hours ahead so long as they are dry and not wet as this will make your salad soggy.
- Prepare the dressing 3-4 days in advance and keep it in the fridge.
How to meal prep this salad
- A great salad to food prep for your lunches, just place the tossed salad in containers with the dressing in smaller separate containers to add and mix into the salad when you are ready to eat.
Serving Suggestions
You can pair this salad with everything from roasted or barbecued meats, or with tagines, curries or pasta.
Try it with…
Try some more of our mixed salad recipes...
Recipe Card
Equipment
- Salad Spinner
- Small Food Processor, Bullet/High-speed Blender
Ingredients
- 1 small cos lettuce (romaine lettuce) (approximately 200 grams)
- 1 medium Lebanese cucumber (approximately 150 grams)
- 1 medium carrot (approximately 150 grams)
- 1 medium banana/bullhorn capsicum (pepper) (approximately 60 grams)
- 1 spring onion
- ½ cup dried tomatoes
- 1 large avocado (approximately 300 grams)
- 1 tablespoon chopped dill
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
- ½ cup sundried tomatoes, (dry-packed 1) (chopped)
- 4 tbsps red wine vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ garlic clove (minced)
- water to loosen
Instructions
- Wash and trim your lettuce, either pat or spin dry and then shred.
- Rinse, trim and peel your carrot and cucumber then cut into thin rounds for the carrots and slightly thicker rounds for the cucumber.
- Remove the core and seeds from your bullhorn pepper, rinse under cold water then cut into rounds.
- Wash and peel your avocado, cut into chunks and squeeze some lemon over the top.
- Cut your dried tomatoes into strips.
- Add all your dressing ingredients to a small food processor or high-speed blender and blitz until combined, adding water to loosen.
- Place all your ingredients in a large mixing bowl, season and mix until well combined.
- Arrange in a salad bowl and serve.
Notes
- You should be able to find these in your supermarket in the aisle where the gherkins and pickles are. If you are unable to find dry-packed tomatoes just use the ones in oil, wash them and dry them carefully.
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
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