Date and Feta Salad

Name: Date and Feta Salad
Yield: As A Side Dish for 4
Cuisine: Asia
Ingredients: ½ bunch of fresh coriander (cilantro); 1 sweet white onion (use a red onion if you can’t find a white one), finely sliced; ½ stale barberi bread, or 1 stale pide (or 2 slices of stale ordinary white bread); pure olive oil, for frying; salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 bunch (bag) of fresh rocket (arugula); 12 fresh (or dried) dates; about 75 g/2¾ oz/½ cup toasted hazelnut halves (or walnuts if, like me, you get a tingly tongue with hazelnuts); handful of shredded fresh mint; 150 g/5½ oz.real feta, cubed

Preparation info

As A Side Dish for
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Salmagundi

By Sally Butcher

Published 2014

About

Dates and cheese are common plate fellows, found at breakfast tables all over the Middle East, providing a simple lunch for desert nomads, or offering a nutritious repast for Ramadan sunsets. This is quite a rich salad, but is a winsome accompaniment to sharp or tomato-ey dishes. It is also a winner for meze-style eating.

Ingredients

½ stale barberi bread, or 1 stale pide (or 2 slices of stale ordinary white bread)

Asia
Dinner
Lunch
Side dish
Vegetarian
Raw
Ramadan

Method

Cube your stale bread, then fry it with a little oil in a pan, turning regularly, until it is a pleasingly golden colour. Set the croutons on kitchen paper to drain and cool.

Break the stalky bits off the coriander and separate the rest into pretty, curly fronds. Mix it with the rocket leaves, and pile them into your favourite salad bowl.

Next, halve and pit the dates, then mix