Who doesn’t love pickles? Certainly not us! For dinner or as a snack, the curious and exciting world of sour and salty veggies in all shapes and colours seems endless. Seriously, just look at these beauties:
We recently talked about the excellent Bar Tartine cookbook, which we really loved. But it certainly isn’t the easiest introduction to Pickleland. If you’re looking to ease your way in that space, there is a new book out there that can definitely help you: Cornersmith (edited by Murdoch Books, find it on Amazon US / Amazon UK).
Cornersmith is a Sydney-based café & picklery. Although we’ve never been there, we absolutely love what these folks are doing! Their focus on seasonal and locally grown vegetable, free-range meats, eggs, and dairy, all of which laced with all sorts of homemade products is totally aligned with our vision, so we’re thrilled to tell you what this is all about!
The book is simply gorgeous and gorgeously simple. It’s filled with beautiful images and tons of inspiring dishes – exactly the type of food we like to make. And especially eat! Obviously, about half of the recipes cover exciting stuff we always want to have in our pantry: chilli jam, lime marmalade, green tomato hot sauce, pickled cumquats, or more adventurous creations such as fermented pineapple and chilli sambal.
Where this book really shines is through how practical the recipes are. Most of them are simple, use few ingredients, and are really well explained. Those are all dishes that you can actually make yourself for brunch even after an intense night out!
We loved the citrus-braised fennel, which was amazing. Its sweetness and acidity is an ideal pairing for meat dish, or simply as a main dish in its own right.
The recipe we share with you is their interpretation of a classic Middle-Eastern salad: bittersweet tabouleh with radicchio & pomegranate! Delicious and refreshing and works equally well with freekeh (like we did). Let us know what you think!
Bittersweet tabouleh with radicchio & pomegranate
Print recipeIngredients
- 100g buckwheat
- 1 (short) cucumber
- 2 ox-heart tomatoes (finely chopped)
- 1/2 radicchio (finely chopped)
- 1 pomegranate (seeds)
- 1-2 lemons (juice and zest)
- 2 handfuls mixed herbs (parsley, mint, dill, finely chopped)
- 80ml olive oil
- 2-3 pinches sumac
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate syrup (or pomegranate molasses)
Directions
| Step 1 | |
| Put the buckwheat into a large saucepan of salted boiling water. Once the water comes back to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 6-8 minutes. When done, it should still have a slight bite to them. Drain and leave to cool. | |
| Step 2 | |
| Mix the buckwheat, cucumber, tomatoes, radicchio, and pomegranate seeds in a bowl. Add the lemon zest and juice, three-quarters of the herbs and season with salt and pepper. Then gently toss everything together. | |
| Step 3 | |
| To serve, place the tabouleh in a large bowl, then pour over the olive oil. Scatter over the sumac and the rest of the herbs and drizzle over the pomegranate syrup. | |
