Pistachio Salad versatile amazingness
Pistachios have to be my favourite nut. A more interesting texture and colour than peanuts, cashews or almonds. Slightly less elegant than pecans, which might be my other favourite. Hazelnuts have a perky charm of their own….ok I might like nuts a lot. Hold the jokes about my friends.
Here I am deconstructing (and simplifying!) a recipe in which pistachios star and are truly amazing. The creator is Yotam Ottolenghi, whose recipes are absolutely delicious, despite my sneaky feeling he would not be such a household word if his name were Harold Perkinson or something equally mundane. Ottolenghi has a ring that seems to make people feel 100% more adventurous and cosmopolitan just by pronouncing it. (Totally subjective opinion supported by no studies or polls -yet.)
Above you can see the most basic element of this meal, which essentially is a salad. Mine is composed of two avocados, a handful each of fresh basil and fresh cilantro/coriander, one green chili, sea salt, oil and lime juice from one lime. (The original recipe also calls for cardamom and nigella seeds, along with lime zest and possibly some other stuff I left out - let me know if you try it in full!)
Original instructions are to mix with cooked soba noodles (which need to be rinsed with cool water after cooking, so this is a room temperature dish) and sprinkle with a few extra nuts/herbs. In my experience the noodles and the salad don’t mix particularly well so you may as well just serve the noodles topped with the salad and let the eater mix as they go! I’ve made it twice, with panfried salmon both times, but fully intend to utilise the versatility of the salad base by swapping protein and carbs as per my thoughts below. For two people the quantities I mention above made enough salad for one meal, so increase the quantities if you’re feeding more!
Protein suggestions:
panfried salmon
griddled chicken breast or tofu
halloumi
sauteed prawns or scallops
fried or poached eggs
Carb suggestions:
buckwheat soba noodles
spelt fusilli
brown rice
baked/jacket potatoes
I highly recommend this whatever incarnation you choose. Below is a link which has this recipe and some others. Ottolenghi provides exact measurements of everything. I can’t be bothered with that and just squeeze the lime, slosh the oil and eyeball the herbs.
If you make it, whether via Yotam’s (cause we’re like this - closed fingers gesture) official version or winging it from this short description, you too can join the name droppers and wield the magic sounds - ‘Haven’t heard of Ottolenghi? Oh you simply must!’
