Four robust new salad recipes (plus the secret to perfect jammy boiled eggs to put on top)

Michael Rantissi may be best known for his light, fluffy falafels, but there’s another dish he’s just as passionate about: salad.

The Sydney chef and restaurateur has built his two venues – Kepos Street Kitchen and Salma’s Canteen – around fresh, seasonal produce, generous scrunches of herbs and perfectly balanced dressings.

“[Salads are] a wonderful mix of ingredients that can be eaten at every meal, every day of the week,” Rantissi says.

The idea for his fourth cookbook, Salata – co-written with his partner, Kristy Frawley – was born during the COVID-19 lockdowns. When their Redfern cafe was forced to close, the pair installed a deli fridge and began filling it with takeaway dishes, many of them salads.

There was cauliflower dotted with pistachios and chewy cranberries, Persian rice bejewelled with pomegranate arils, and hot smoked salmon tumbled with kipfler potatoes, olives and boiled eggs.

The unexpected downtime also allowed Rantissi and Frawley to develop recipes for Salata, focusing on vibrant Mediterranean salads that are anything but garden variety.

“Yes, there are cookbooks about salad, but I wanted to create a book that pushed the boundaries of what you would normally consider a ‘salad’,” Rantissi writes in the book’s introduction.

The book delivers on that promise, featuring 90 recipes spanning surprising side salads, hefty dinner options, special occasion showstoppers, and even a few dessert salads. There’s also an entire chapter devoted to dressings and crunchy bits to add at the end.

While the deli fridge at Kepos Street Kitchen is still brimming with fresh, leafy options, now you have the tools to make your own at home. —Erina Starkey, Good Food app editor

Burghul salad in baby cos lettuce

Burghul is cracked wheat, and it can be used as a substitute for rice. There is one version that is made with polished wheat, and another where the wheat grains are not polished, and there are also three levels of coarseness: coarse, semi-coarse and fine. I normally use either fine or coarse burghul. Fine burghul soaks up flavours and juices, but in a salad where burghul is the hero, you would use a coarse one. This salad is my version of a chunky tabbouleh. It would make a nice finger food or happily sit as part of a larger spread.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 baby cos lettuces, leaves separated
• extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

Burghul salad

• 350g (2 cups) coarse burghul
• 2 vine-ripened tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 green capsicum, seeded and finely chopped
• 1⁄2 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped
• 1⁄2 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1⁄2 bunch of mint, finely chopped
• 250g (1 cup) tomato paste
• 60ml (1⁄4 cup) quality extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• juice of 1⁄2 lemon
• sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

METHOD

1. Place the burghul in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 12 minutes, then strain and cool to room temperature.
2. Add the remaining salad ingredients and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to your liking.
3. To serve, place 2–3 tablespoons of the burghul salad on the lettuce leaves and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Serves 6–8

Freekeh, harissa, roasted tomato and rocket salad

You always feel good when eating grains that you know are good for you. This salad is a great vegan dish featuring freekeh – a young, roasted wheat – but you can definitely add a sliced steak over this if you need a meat protein with your meal. If this is your first time using freekeh, the cooking time might seem long, but don’t worry, you won’t overcook it.

INGREDIENTS

• 200g whole freekeh
• 60g (1⁄4 cup) ready-made harissa or 80g red harissa dressing (see recipe)
• sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
• 2 tomatoes, each cut into 6 wedges
• 1 bunch of wild rocket, leaves washed
• 60ml (1⁄4 cup) olive oil

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 210C fan-forced (230C conventional). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Half-fill a medium-sized saucepan with water, add the freekeh and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for 40 minutes, or until tender. Strain the freekeh and cool it down under cold running water.
3. Add the drained freekeh to a mixing bowl, add the harissa, season with salt and pepper and mix well.
4. While the freekeh is cooking, arrange the tomatoes on the baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until roasted and coloured. Add the hot tomatoes to the freekeh mixture and toss to combine. Layer the salad with the rocket leaves, drizzle over the olive oil, and serve straight away or at room temperature.

Serves 6

Red harissa dressing

This dressing will keep in the fridge for up to three weeks in an airtight container.

INGREDIENTS

• 500g red capsicums (about 2-3)

• 1 bunch of coriander, coarsely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 large green chilli, coarsely chopped
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 30ml red wine vinegar
• salt to taste
• 60ml (1⁄4 cup) extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

1. Char the capsicums directly over a gas burner on high heat, turning them with tongs to get a nice char on them. Place in a large bowl and cover with cling wrap. Once cool enough to handle, remove the skin, seeds and membrane, discarding.
2. Place the roasted capsicum flesh in a food processor. Add the fresh coriander, garlic and chilli, and blend to a paste. Add the spices and sugar and blend for a further minute. Add the vinegar and salt and slowly drizzle in the olive oil until well combined.

Makes 500g

Puy lentil and pearl barley salad with goat’s feta

Hearty and versatile, this salad is fragrant with herbs and rich in grains and pulses. I also love adding some chopped green chilli for a little extra kick. Top a bowlful with a perfect jammy boiled egg (see below) and you have yourself the perfect meal. For ease of preparation, you can boil the lentils and pearl barley a day before, then simply assemble the salad when ready to serve.

INGREDIENTS

• 200g (1 cup) dried Puy lentils, rinsed well
• 200g (1 cup) pearl barley, rinsed well
• 1 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves finely chopped
• 1 bunch of dill, leaves finely chopped
• 1 large red onion, finely chopped
• 75ml olive oil
• 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 150g goat’s feta, crumbled

METHOD

1. Place the lentils and pearl barley in two separate medium-sized saucepans half-filled with cold tap water. Bring to a boil. Cook the lentils at a rapid simmer for 20 minutes, and the barley for 30 minutes, or until the lentils and barley are tender and cooked to your liking, but not mushy. Drain, then cool under cold running water and set aside.
2. Place the lentils and barley in a large mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and toss together. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a serving platter.

Serves 6-8

Perfect jammy boiled eggs

Making the perfect jammy boiled eggs requires following a few rules to a T, which I will describe here more as a story than a recipe. You’ll need a large saucepan half-filled with almost boiling water, large (70g) free-range eggs at room temperature, a timer and a large bowl of cold iced water to chill the eggs quickly.

With the help of a large slotted spoon, carefully lower four eggs into the boiling water. Cook for exactly 7½ minutes. Transfer the eggs to the iced water bath and leave for about 10 minutes, until cold, then peel the eggs and use as desired.

It’s always great having a few jammy eggs in the fridge to add to different meals. I like to peel the eggs and store them in water in a covered container so they don’t dry out. The container doesn’t necessarily need to be airtight. Kept refrigerated like this, they can keep for up to five days.

Celery and pearl cous cous salad

This salad showcases how you can use celery in three different ways – the stalks fresh and crunchy, or roasted for sweetness, and the leaves blended into a herbaceous salad dressing. If you don’t feel like roasting the celery, you can leave out that step and just use all the celery fresh.

INGREDIENTS

• 90 ml olive oil
• 250g (11⁄2 cups) pearl cous cous
• 1⁄2 bunch of celery, leaves picked and reserved
• sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 150g (1 cup) pistachios

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 210C fan-forced (230C conventional). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
2. Heat a third of the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Fry the cous cous for 1-2 minutes until it turns a light golden brown, stirring now and then. Pour in 500ml (2 cups) hot water from a kettle and reduce the heat to low. Cook for about 12-15 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed. Set aside to cool.
3. Meanwhile, wash the celery stalks well and chop into 5mm chunks. Set aside 1 cup of the chopped celery. Toss the remaining celery with another third of the olive oil, season with salt and pepper and spread over the baking tray. Roast for 15 minutes, or until golden; the celery should be soft but not mushy. Set aside to cool.
4. To make the dressing, add the remaining olive oil to a blender or small food processor. Add the reserved celery leaves, garlic and one-third of the pistachios and blend until combined but still coarsely chopped. Check the seasoning and add a little salt, if required.
5. Place the pearl cous cous in a large mixing bowl with the fresh and roasted celery and the remaining pistachios. Drizzle the dressing over and mix well to combine. The components of this salad can be prepared in advance, but only assemble and dress the salad just before serving.

Serves 6

This is an edited extract from Salata by Michael Rantissi and Kristy Frawley, photography by Alan Benson. Murdoch Books RRP $39.99.