Amaranth greens (vleeta) and roasted Summer vegetables salad served with creamy garlic dip

This is a super Summer recipe to enjoy some of the most tasty seasonal greens and vegetables! "Vleeta" greens are very popular in Greece and my favourite summer green salad. In the past I have posted another recipe and showed you how we usually cook and eat this sweet type of "horta". In today's recipe they work together with some roasted vegetables and served with "skordalia", the traditional garlic dip. All this ultimately makes this recipe an ideal side dish to accompany various meat and fish dishes. You can omit, if you want, the garlic dip and then the recipe becomes a classic salad, drizzling on top with olive oil and lemon juice or malt vinegar

From "BHMAgourmet" magazine of "TO BHMA" newspaper (2010)

Ingredients (for 4 people)

For the vegetables:

500 gr. of amaranth greens, cleaned and well washed

2 medium tender courgettes, cut in slices
1 small aubergine, cut in slices (the Greek "Tsakoniki" or the Japanese variety)
2 Florina red peppers, cut in pieces (or red bell peppers)

For the garlic dip:

3-4 slices of stale bread (no crust)

1-2 cloves of garlic

salt
pepper

1 tbsp of white wine vinegar

½ tea-cup of extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Boil the amaranth greens in plenty of salted water for about 10 minutes. Transfer into a colander and leave to drain.

Arrange the other vegetables on a baking tray, drizzle with some oil, sprinkle with salt and bake under a hot grill until they are softened and lightly charred. Alternatively you can fry the vegetables and drain on kitchen paper. Take out of the oven and leave aside to cool down.

In the meantime, soak the bread in water and squeeze with your hands to drain. Transfer into a blender and add the garlic, the vinegar, salt and pepper and whiz until you have a homogeneous mixture. Gradually and in a steady flow add in the blender the olive oil and 1 tbsp of water, while you keep whizzing, until the mixture becomes smooth and creamy.

Place the amaranth greens in the centre of a spacious serving platter with the roasted vegetables arranged around.

Drizzle on top with the creamy garlic dip and serve immediately. Alternatively you can serve the garlic dip separately in a bowl.