Happy Healthy feta salad for IHCC

Obviously, I like food. I like it a lot. But maybe it is a sign of old age or something, but increasingly I prefer food that makes me feel good after I have eaten it, as well as while I eat it.

That's the point where this week's I Heart Cooking Clubs falls. The theme is Happy, Healthy! the good-for-you dishes that taste great. And fortunately this is an area where the current featured cook, Diana Henry, really excels. She does the most amazingly enticing things with vegetables and salads...

Deb had already made Diana's orange and fennel salad with feta and pomegranate for the October Potluck IHCC, but it was too good not to feature again. And the version I made, from A Change of Appetite, also included almonds caramelised in honey and spices.

As I was making it in the lead up to Christmas though, I gave it a little twist using pistachios instead of almonds.

I served it with Sabrina Ghayour's za'atar cod with relish. The fish totally fell apart, but it was delicious, as was the relish that went with it. I used a couple of home-pickled habaneros instead of the milder, commercial pickled chillies. It was a wonderful combination! It reminded me a bit of one of my most memorable ever meals, red emperor with tapenade and a Greek salad, at The Bathers Pavilion, back in the days when Victoria Alexander was chef. Even without that bit of nostalgia it was a superb meal - several days later Paul was still saying how much he enjoyed it.