For cook, author and Guardian food columnist Meera Sodha, the Burnt Sienna and Potter's Pink-painted Suffolk kitchen in her studio offers the ideal mix of efficient, ergonomic design with the colour inspiration she looks for when testing her flavourful recipes. Here, she shares a light dish from her latest book, Dinner, perfect for a spring or summer lunch party.
Makes enough for two
Pre-cooked jarred chickpeas are fantastic for salads because they are ludicrously creamy. If you have only tinned, use two tins and, to get rid of any chalkiness, put the chickpeas and their water into a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes then drain, to get super-soft chickpeas. Belazu makes an incomparable rose harissa.
What you'll need
For the dressing
- 3 tbsp rose harissa paste
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp lemon juice (from 1–2 lemons)
- 1 tsp fine salt
For the salad
- 1 x 700g jar of cooked chickpeas
- ½ red onion, finely sliced
- 30 baby plum tomatoes (300g), halved
- 1 cucumber (350g), deseeded and cut into 1cm half-moons
- 20 pitted Kalamata olives, halved
- 20g fresh coriander
- 30g fresh mint, leaves picked
- Pitta bread or flatbreads, to serve
What to do
- Put all the dressing ingredients into a bowl and stir. Drain the chickpeas, tip into a large bowl, and add the onion, tomatoes, cucumber and olives.
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Pour the dressing over the vegetables and mix well. Finely chop the coriander and all but a small handful of mint leaves. Sprinkle over the chopped coriander and mint, and fold through the salad.
- To serve, toast the pitta breads or heat the flatbreads and cut into pieces. Tip the salad out onto a serving platter, scatter over the remaining mint leaves and serve with the bread on the side.
Recipe from Dinner by Meera Sodha.