Recipe of the day: Grapefruit and roasted carrot salad

Private chef Ayabonga Gope’s relationship with food starts well before the kitchen.

Growing up, he would accompany a neighbour to his farm to pick fresh produce, an experience that taught him that a garden can provide far more than ingredients. It can provide food, opportunity and a way for a community to support itself.

That belief led him to help establish a vegetable garden in his community, supplying fresh produce to restaurants and old-age homes in the Western Cape while creating jobs and feeding the community.

Garden Day 2026 was observed last month, on 18 October, and its theme, “From Garden to Table: Grow, Gather, Celebrate,” put the link between growing and eating at the centre of the day.

The organisation has previously highlighted the chef’s connection to growing and his love of picking and collecting fresh produce for his cooking. If it has you thinking about what could go from your garden onto your plate, this salad is a good place to start.

His grapefruit and roasted carrot salad brings that garden-to-table philosophy onto the plate. Citrus, fennel, tomatoes, basil, baby carrots, feta, and wild rocket come together in a colourful salad that is fresh, generous, and full of ingredients that feel at home in a South African garden.

Grapefruit and roasted carrot salad recipe

Ingredients

• 2 grapefruit (preferably garden-grown), peeled and sliced
• 2 pomelo or oranges, peeled and sliced
• A handful of fennel
• A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 block feta, cubed
• Fresh basil
• Baby carrots
• 3 tbsp black balsamic vinegar
• Ciabatta, toasted with olive oil
• Wild rocket

For the dressing

• ¼ cup grapefruit juice
• 2 tbsp ginger juice
• 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 tsp honey
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Roast the baby carrots at 180°C for 10 minutes. Add the honey and balsamic vinegar towards the end and roast for another three minutes.
2. Combine the grapefruit, pomelo or oranges, fennel, tomatoes, herbs and roasted carrots.
3. Whisk together the dressing ingredients and drizzle over the salad.
4. Serve on a bed of wild rocket, topped with feta and basil and a little more dressing.

Tip: Pistachios or avocado can also be added.

*– Recipe supplied by Garden Day. *