Vegetarian mains
Spiced maftoul salad with roasted roots and orange
Maftoul is a hand-rolled wholewheat couscous style grain; it makes a great addition to a salad. A standard giant pearled couscous will work just as well if you can't find maftoul. This salad has a Middle Eastern flavour, spiced with citrus fruit and cranberries. You may not need quite all of the dressing, but any leftover can be kept in an empty jam jar and re-whisked to use again.
Cook's notes
If your parsnips are really large or end of the season, you may want to remove the cores as they can get a bit woody.
Ingredients
- 300g parsnips
- 300g carrots
- 2 red onions
- ½ tsp cumin
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- olive oil
- 25g dried cranberries
- 25g pine nuts
- 100g maftoul
- 1 vegetable stock cube
- 3 clementines – 1 for the dressing, 2 for the salad, or use 2 blood oranges
- 25g ginger
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp dried mint
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar
- 30g parsley
- 25g salad leaves
- 1 lemon
- 50g Wootton white cheese
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat your oven to 200°C/Gas Mark 5. Wash, peel and chop the parsnip(s) and carrots into batons, about 2cm thick (not too big, so they cook in time). Peel the onions. Chop in half through the root, then into wedges, about 5-6 each half.
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Step 2
Put them all in a roasting tin. Mix the cumin, cinnamon, paprika and smoked paprika with 3 tablespoons of oil in a small bowl or a mug. (Mixing the spices with the oil first prevents it clumping). Add a little salt and pepper and toss with the veg. Roast for 30 minutes.
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Step 3
Meanwhile, put the cranberries in a mug and add just enough water to cover them. Leave them to soak and plump up a little. Put the pine nuts in a dry frying pan. Heat gently, stirring often, for about 2-3 minutes, until golden. Keep a very good eye on them as they catch and burn quickly.
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Step 4
Once done, tip them into a small bowl to stop them cooking further. Put the maftoul in a pan with 500ml water. Crumble in the stock cube. Cook on a low boil for about 15 minutes, until tender. Stir now and then. Keep an eye on the liquid level; add a splash more water if needed.
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Step 5
By the end you want all the liquid to be absorbed. Make the dressing: finely zest 1 clementine into a large bowl using a zester, grater or microplane. Squeeze in the juice from that clementine too. Peel the ginger with a teaspoon and finely grate in about 1 teaspoon.
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Step 6
Add the honey, mint, vinegar, 6 tablespoons good olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Whisk together. Peel and segment the other clementines. Halve some segments. Wash and dry the parsley and roughly chop the leaves. Wash a good handful of salad leaves.
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Step 7
Once the maftoul is done, add it to the dressing along with the clementine segments and pine nuts. When the root veg are tender, remove them from the oven and toss with the maftoul. Taste and add a little lemon juice to sharpen it if needed, more olive oil or seasoning too, if you like.
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Step 8
Gently mix with the salad leaves. Divide between 2 serving bowls or plates and crumble over some of the Wootton white cheese to serve.