Serves: 4 - Time:
I know that, as we descend into winter, it might seem like the wrong season to be making this salad but every now and then I need a reminder of summer, some colour on a plate, lightness and crisp bright flavours. This is a salad which can be adapted to suit tastes. I don’t much like raw onion so vere away from alliums here- but the chives are a concession and lend a little oniony tang without being overpowering. You can also include salad leaves, peppery rocket, mizuna or some crisp baby gem leaves. I can find Syrian flatbreads locally but you could swap these for pitta breads.
Ingredients
- For the dressing
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
- Juice of ½ lemon
- ½ tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sumac
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- For the salad
- 1 cucumber, peeled
- 475g ripe tomatoes
- 130g radishes, topped and tailed and quartered
- 2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
- 2 flatbreads or pitta breads
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Method
- Put all the dressing ingredients in a bowl, add a generous pinch of salt and ground black pepper and whisk until amalgamated. Set aside.
- Heat the oven to fan 180°c, mark 6. For the salad, halve the cucumber lengthways and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon. Halve each piece lengthways and cut across into 1cm chunks. Transfer to a salad bowl. Cut the tomatoes into 1cm chunks and add to the cucumber. Stir in the quartered radishes and season well with salt and ground black pepper.
- Stir in the herbs and most of the dressing. Place the flatbreads on a baking tray and drizzle over the olive oil. Bake in the oven for about 8-10 minutes until golden and crispy. Cool a little and break up into rough pieces. Just before serving stir in the crisped bread and spoon over the rest of the dressing. Serve immediately.
