Rich and hearty, this Greek salad is a meal in itself

Perfect on its own or as a side, this Greek salad is filling and satisfying.

This veg dish is perfect warm or cold.

Ella Mittas

less than 2 min read

11:29AMMay 30, 2024.

Updated 11:46AMJune 04, 2024

The Weekend Australian Magazine

Print

You can use the pilaf base of this salad with any vegetable combination. Sometimes I use roast carrots and red grapes instead of cauliflower, or serve the base plain with currants and almonds stirred through. If you don’t have any stock, you can cook the freekeh in water – it just won’t be as rich.

Try my other recipes: chickpeas baked with lemon & honey and potato salad with herbs & roast almonds.

Ela! Ela! By Ella Mittas.

Ella Mittas. Picture by Jessica Grilli.

Cauliflower & freekeh salad

Ingredients

• 2 heads cauliflower, broken into florets
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra to finish
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cups freekeh
• 2 cups hot vegetable or chicken stock
• 1 cup chopped mixed parsley, mint, dill and spring onions
• ¼ cup chopped hazelnuts, roasted
• Flake salt, freshly ground black pepper and lemon to taste

Dressing

• ½ cup Greek yoghurt
• ½ lemon, juiced
• ½ garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tablespoon tahini
• Flake salt, to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Toss the cauliflower in 3 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for around 30 minutes or until golden brown, and set aside to cool.
2. Place the onion, butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large heavy-based pot and sauté on medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until the onion is golden brown. Add the freekeh and fry out until it’s all coated in oil. Add the hot stock and stir well. Be careful when you do this: sometimes the stock can spit.
3. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and leave to simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on. I check on the pilaf a couple of times throughout this cooking process, to see if the mix has dried out.
4. Once the freekeh is cooked through, remove from the heat and run a fork through it to fluff it up. Then leave to cool slightly.
5. Meanwhile, mix the yoghurt with lemon juice, garlic and tahini, and season. Then stir the mixed greens and cauliflower into the pilaf and adjust seasoning.
6. Add more olive oil if it’s a little dry. Spoon into a serving dish and garnish with dressing and roast hazelnuts.

Serves 6 as a side

This is an edited extract from Ela! Ela! by Ella Mittas.