10 min to prepare, 30 min in the oven for an easy, refreshing Mediterranean summer salad with roast eggplant, zucchini, olives and grain. Perfect for a crowd, for parents, toddlers, adaptable for picky eaters, baby-led weaning and for lunch or dinner.
Summer is my favorite season. Not just for the sun, but I love the seasonal vegetables in summer!
Why we love this summer salad:
- Refreshing taste of Mediterranean
- Easy roasted vegetable salad recipe - 10 min prep, 30 min oven
- Kid-friendly salad with an easy dressing
- Energy-loaded nutritious summer salad filled with carbohydrates, protein and fat. And plenty vitamins and minerals too
- Baby-led weaning friendly, easily adapted to picky eaters and toddlers
Jump to:
Nutrition And Ingredients
- Bulgur Wheat - a good source of calories and complex carbohydrates and a great source of manganese
- Zucchini - leave the skin on since it contains the most nutrients (if organic). A good source of vitamin C and manganese and a very good source of dietary fiber, potassium, folate, and copper. See further below on how to serve babies.
- Eggplant - remove the skin which can taste bitter when roasted. A good source of dietary fiber, potassium, manganese, and copper as well as vitamin B1.
- Cherry tomatoes - sweet taste, a great source of vitamin C, and contain a special carotenoid called lycopene which can protect the cardiovascular system
- Feta cheese - a good source of calories, protein, and fats as well as calcium. It does have a lot of sodium so go light on it for toddlers and omit for babies
- Olives - use Greek Kalamata if you can. Remove the seed. Rinse well before serving to toddlers to remove excess salt.
- Olive oil - a great source of calories and "healthy" fats which can protect the cardiovascular system
How to make Mediterranean eggplant salad
1. Heat the oven. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
2. Prepare the veggies. Wash and cut the zucchini and eggplant into pieces about 1 cm thick (peel the skin if you wish).
For baby-led weaning, wash and peel the eggplant and zucchini and cut the veg the width and length of about 2 adult fingers stuck together. Omit the salt.
Wash about half of the cherry tomatoes and cut in halves. Place the veggies into a mixing bowl, add the 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt, and pepper and mix everything with your hands (omit the salt if making for babies under 1).
3. Roast the veggies. Line an oven baking tray with parchment paper and place the veggies on the baking tin. Bake for about 30 minutes. Until soft but not overbaked (for baby-led weaning and pincer grasp you want them to be soft enough so you can mash them between your fingers).
4. Oven cook the bulgur. Meanwhile, place the bulgur in a roasting tray, add water and place in the oven for 20 minutes. This is an easier way to make bulgur because you don't have to keep going back to the kitchen, waiting for it to boil, turn the heat down, etc... but you can let the oven do the work while you relax.
5. Prepare the rest of the ingredients. Cut the feta into cubes, olives into halves, and the rest of the cherry tomatoes into halves. If the olives have a seed, remove it (rinse the olives for toddlers to remove excess sodium).
6. Make the dressing. Prepare the dressing – mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and mustard.
7. Cool and serve. Once the veggies are baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool. Place the cooled veggies into a serving bowl, add the feta, olives, fresh cherry tomatoes, and bulgur before mixing. Pour the dressing over the salad before serving.
How To Serve Salad to Babies And Toddlers?
Babies
- Omit salt from the recipe
- Omit feta and olives due to sodium
- Omit cherry tomatoes as they present a choking hazard unless you have really big ones that can be quartered so baby can hold them easily
- Baby-led Weaning
- Peel the zucchini and eggplant and cut into the width and length of two adult fingers stuck together
- Serve with bulgur wheat on a preloaded spoon
- 9 months old+ (or whenever ready for pincer grasp)
- Cut up eggplant, zucchini and cherry tomatoes into bite size pieces or the same as for baby-led weaning
- Serve bulgur on a preloaded spoon
- Avoid feta and olives (too salty)
- Toddlers
- Serve the same as for parents but keep feta on the lower end because of the high sodium content
- For picky eaters you can separate the ingredients as in the photo below
Tips
Don't use too much salt. A few pinches are enough to help the eggplant release its natural sourness and to enhance the taste of the veggies. If you use too much the final dish might be too salty because you're also using feta cheese which is naturally salty.
Don't overbake the veggies unless used for baby-led weaning/pincer grasp. The veggies should be as the Italians would say "al dente" - cooked but still a bit firm so that they hold the texture. If overbaked they will be too soft.
Allow the veggies and bulgur to cool so they don't heat the feta cheese and olives and the overall taste won't be as good.
Variations
Use another grain. You don't need to use bulgur if you don't like it or have it at home. Some other grains that work well here include couscous, millet or quinoa.
Use another cheese. Semi-hard goat's cheese would be my second choice here.
Use different spices. The proposed dressing for this salad includes just olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and mustard. But this can only be your starting point. You can add some other spices or additions to it like some fresh basil or dried oregano.
Other Family Recipes
If you've tried this recipe for kids then rate the recipe below and leave us a comment!
Recipe
Mediterranean Summer Salad with Eggplant
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 oz bulgur
- 1 cup water for bulgur
- 1 zucchini medium-sized
- 1 eggplant medium-sized
- 3.5 oz cherry tomatoes
- 3.5 oz feta cheese
- 10 olives
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt omit for babies under 1
- pepper
Dressing
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp mustard
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
- Wash and cut the zucchini and eggplant into pieces about 1 cm thick. You can peel the skin off also if you wish. For baby-led weaning, peel the eggplant and zucchini and cut the veg the width and length of about 2 adult fingers stuck together. Omit the salt.
- Wash about half of the cherry tomatoes and cut in halves.
- Place the veggies into a mixing bowl, add the 2 tbsp of olive oil, salt and pepper and mix everything with your hands.
- Line an oven baking tin with parchment paper and place the veggies on the baking tin.
- Bake for about 30 minutes. Until soft but now overbaked (for baby-led weaning and pincer grasp you want them to be soft enough so you can mash them between your fingers).
- Meanwhile, place the bulgur in a roasting tin and add water and place in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool for about 20 minutes.
- Cut the feta into cubes, olives into halves and the rest of the cherry tomatoes into halves. If the olives have a seed, remove it.
- Prepare the dressing - mix the olive oil, balsamic vinegar and mustard.
- Once the veggies are baked, take out from the oven and allow to cool for about 20 minutes.
- Place the cooled veggies into a serving bowl, add the feta, olives, fresh cherry tomatoes and cooled bulgur and mix.
- Pour the dressing over the salad before serving.
Notes
Nutrition calculation is an estimate and is based on an adult serving of this meal.
How to serve to babies and toddlers?
-
Omit salt from the recipe
-
Baby-led Weaning
-
Peel the zucchini and eggplant and cut into the width and length of two adult fingers stuck together
-
Serve with bulgur wheat on a preloaded spoon
-
Avoid feta, olives, and cherry tomatoes
-
-
9 months old+ (or whenever ready for pincer grasp)
-
Cut up eggplant, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes into bite-size pieces or the same as for baby-led weaning
-
Serve bulgur on a preloaded spoon
-
Avoid feta and olives
-
-
Toddlers
-
Serve the same as for parents but keep feta on the lower end because of the high sodium amount
-
For picky eaters, you can serve the ingredients separately
-
Nutrition
If you've tried this salad recipe for kids then rate the recipe below and leave us a comment!
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