A delicious salad with a fresh and tangy sumac dressing, crispy smoky croutons and chopped pistachios. A fantastic lunch or light dinner, packed with flavour, texture and plenty of nutrients.
Sumac is a fresh spice, bright red-pink in appearance with a tangy lemony flavour...it's used liberally in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines...you might have seen it garnishing your hummus. It works perfectly with the fresh veg, smoky croutons and creamy pistachios! The croutons are packed with flavour, add a fantastic crunch and are a great way to use up slightly stale bread too!
Lots of the veg I used here was actually grown in my parents' garden this year, which is so much fun to be able to cook with and tastes incredible too! It doesn't have to be homegrown to deliver all the goodness, though seasonality really does help with the nutrition content and we still have a little more of the summer's veg to enjoy before we head into the Autumn harvest. Tomatoes are packed full of vitamins A and C and even have some fluid-balancing potassium too. Dark leafy salad greens help to deliver a boost iron and calcium and radishes also deliver plenty of vitamin C [1] and are also rich in anthocyanins - powerful antioxidants typically found in pink and purple foods [2].
Sumac Salad with Smoky Croutons | Serves: 2-4 | Time: 20-25 mins
You'll need
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Measuring spoons
- Baking tray
- Greaseproof paper (I use reusable)
- Mixing bowl
- Salad bowl
- Small jar with a lid
Ingredients
Croutons:
- 150g slightly stale crusty bread (I used sourdough)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp smoked salt
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salad:
- 100g mixed salad leaves
- 2 large salad tomatoes
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1/4 red onion
- 1 bunch radishes
- Handful mint
- 1/2 medium red chili
- Handful pistachios
Dressing:
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp sumac
- 1 tsp zaatar
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Good pinch black pepper
Method
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Dice the bread into 2cm chunks and add to a mixing bowl with the garlic and onion powder, smoked salt and olive oil. Toss together then spread out in a single layer on the baking tray. Cook for 7-10 mins until golden and allow to cool - they will crisp up upon cooling.
- Add the mixed leaves to the salad bowl, then dice the tomatoes, thinly slice the cucumber, red onion and radishes and add these to the bowl. Roughly chop the mint, thinly slice the chili and roughly chop the pistachios and reserve these as garnish.
- To make the dressing, add all the dressing ingredients to a small jar and shake well. If you're eating your salad immediately, pour the dressing onto the salad and toss together. If you're making this ahead, reserve the dressing until just before serving.
- Serve up the salad onto individual plates and top each serving with a portion of the croutons, mint, chili and pistachios and enjoy!
Cassidy xx
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