Jono & Jules do food & wine

Turkish chopped salad – serves 4 to 6

• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 50g pine nuts
• 250g feta, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 tsp dried mint
• 1 tsp pul biber
• 1 lemon, finely zested and juiced
• 3 large, ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• ¼ cucumber, deseeded and chopped
• 1 red romano pepper, deseeded and sliced finely into rings
• 1 Cos or Little Gem lettuce, roughly chopped
• 10g mint leaves, roughly chopped
• 25g parsley leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• 50g pitted black olives

Drizzle 1 tbsp of the oil in a small frying pan and fry the pine nuts for a couple of minutes until golden brown, then set aside.

Mix the cheese cubes in a bowl with 2 tbsp of the olive oil, 1 tsp of the dried mint, the pul biber, ¼ tsp of coarse black pepper and the lemon zest. Set aside.

Put the tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, lettuce, fresh mint and parsley in a large bowl and toss well with 1 tbsp of the lemon juice and all the white wine vinegar.

Drizzle the last 2 tbsp of oil over the salad and toss well, then add the red onion, black olives, toasted pine nuts, 1 tsp of dried mint and toss again. Add the cheese and toss gently before serving.

(Original recipe from Good Food Magazine, August 2024.)