Jooj Up Your Salad Repetoire! Warm Chorizo & Roast Tomato Salad

While it's summertime in the Southern Hemisphere we tend to eat a lot more salads, making the most of bbq's and lighter eating during the warmer months.

I know I'm guilty of getting stuck in a salad rutt, trotting out the same old cherry tomatoes and iceberg lettuce night after night! Well it's time to bust out and get creative. This warm salad is super easy to make, tastes amazing and dresses itself (yes! no nudie salads here!). It could also be a great light lunch as well as going beautifully with some grilled chicken, bbq steak or pan fried fish fillets for a quick and tasty dinner. So follow these steps and serve up a salad with some "jooj" today!

You'll need:
1 chorizo sausage sliced into 1cm pieces
1 bag of pre-washed baby spinach
1 cup canned white or cannellini beans (drained and rinsed well)
4 roma tomatoes
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
olive oil
S&P
1 tbs dried rosemary, thyme or oregano (or a combination)

To make:
1. Quarter the tomatoes lengthways and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with herbs and S&P. Pop into the oven at 120 degrees C for about 20 mins.
2. Heat a small frypan over medium high heat, add a splash of olive oil and the chorizo pieces, cook until crisp and golden and turn allowing for the same to happen on the other side. Turn off the heat and leave in pan.
3. Place the spinach in your serving bowl.
4. When the tomatoes are done remove tray from the oven and add the balsamic, beans and chorizo, with the oil that is in the frypan, to the baking tray. Return to the oven for a couple of minutes to warm the beans.
5. Remove tray from the oven and toss gently with some tongs to combine the ingredients.
6. Pour chorizo, bean and tomato mix over the spinach leaves along with the juices which will form the dressing. Squeeze over some lemon juice for extra pizazz if you like!
7. Ole! Serve and enjoy.

Tips & Tricks!
*if you need to be super quick substitute the roma tomatoes for 1/2 cup of drained semi dried tomatoes from a jar or the deli, omit step 1 and add them to the mix in step 4.
*this could also be tossed with some freshly cooked pasta to create a whole new meal or with some pre-cooked cooled pasta to create a pasta salad.
*warming or cooking tomatoes brings out the sweetness and might make them more friendly to younger palates (ie. kids!)
*chorizo is a spanish sausage avail at delis or in the cold section of good supermarkets