Lorraine made these two salads, both with Middle Eastern flavours, from recipes by the flavour master himself, Yotam Ottolenghi. Worthy additions to any meal.
The first is adapted from his tomato and pomegranate salad.
Thinly slice ½ a small red onion. Add 2 teaspoons of za’atar and 1½ tablespoons of good quality olive oil and set aside. Halve or quarter 680g (24 oz) of mixed cherry tomatoes to approximately the same size and place them in a large mixing bowl. Add the seeds of 1 pomegranate, ⅓ of a cup each of loosely packed fresh basil leaves and mint leaves torn into pieces, 1½ teaspoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Top with za’atar onion mix.
This cauliflower, pomegranate and pistachio salad recipe comes from cookbook SIMPLE. This salad combines both raw and roasted cauliflower (and leaves).
You can roast the cauliflower 4-6 hours ahead and keep at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 200°C (390ºF). Coarsely grate ⅓ of a whole cauliflower and set aside in a bowl. Break the remaining cauliflower into florets, roughly 3cm (1″) wide, and put these in a separate bowl along with any leaves and 1 roughly sliced medium onion. Toss with 2 tablespoons of oil and ¼ of a teaspoon of salt then spread out on a large parchment-lined baking tray. Roast for about 20 minutes until cooked through and golden-brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. When the roasted vegetables are cool put them in a large bowl and add 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, the grated cauliflower, 25g (.9 oz) of roughly chopped parsley,
10g (⅓ ox) each of roughly chopped mint and tarragon, the seeds from ½ a medium pomegranate,
40g of toasted and roughly chopped pistachios, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1½ tablespoons of lemon juice and ¼ of a teaspoon of salt. Toss gently, just to combine, then transfer to a bowl and serve.
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