Wheat salad with saffron and pimentos (pimento) del piquillo
“Mum, could you buy me this, I had it at the canteen and it’s really good!” This sentence was pronounced by Noé a couple of years ago while we were shopping together. The product he was pointing was the Ebly wheat, in its beautiful yellow box.
I didn't hesitate at all as I saw a good opportunity to vary from pasta, rice, etc that I use in my everyday cooking.
I must admit that I haven't been very creative so far with this product, as I've been cooking it simply in boiling water, or even in the microwave.
On Saturday, I was invited by the Ebly brand with some other food bloggers to a kitchen workshop where I had the pleasure to meet again with the very friendly and creative chef Charles Soussin. The purpose was to show us other ways to cook the Ebly wheat.
We had a fantastic day and I left with some very good ideas, like cooking the wheat in some smoked tea (delicious!).
At home, I didn't wait long to prepare something with wheat.
With Charles, we prepared a wheat Tabbouleh (‘taboulé’) by cooking it the pilaf way (see my recipe) then by adding some roquette, tomatoes and pickled lemon that we served inside some rolled sliced salmon gravalax, prepared by Charles the previous day. It was fresh, perfumed and original.
I kept in mind the idea of this wheat tabbouleh (‘taboulé’), to make a version that has almost nothing to do with the original as I did not have any of the ingredients at home.
My recipe is a little like a pasta salad only lighter. The wheat, which does not release its starch while being cooked, like rice or pasta does, keeps all its texture and crispness and gets nicely flavoured by the other ingredients such as saffron in my case.
It's the perfect salad for a picnic or a barbecue.
Wheat salad with saffron and pimentos del piquillos
Ingredients for 4
2 shallots or 1 small onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
200g wheat
40cl water
Salt
10 saffron threads (see note)
250g of pimentos del piquillo (see note)
100g of garlic in oil (see note)
50g pumpkin seeds
5 big basil leaves, chopped
2 Tbsp of xeres vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
Maldon sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Peel and chop the shallots.
Cook them gently in olive oil in a shallow pan or in a stew-pan for 3 minutes.
Add the wheat and mix well.
Add the water, saffron and salt.
Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer until all the water has been absorbed, which takes about 10 minutes.
Mix from time to time.
Check the seasoning, pour in a bowl and let cool down.
Rinse the piquillos then dice them.
Dice the garlic cloves.
Add the diced piquillos, the diced garlic, the pumpkin seeds and mix. Add the olive oil, the vinegar, the maldon sea salt, the freshly ground black pepper and mix again.
Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
Add the basil then chill the salad before serving.
Note on the ingredients
For this recipe, I used what I had in my cupboards. Feel free to do the same; this is only a basic recipe.
If you do not have saffron, cook the wheat in a vegetable stock, like we did during this workshop.
The pumpkin seeds can be found in organic shops or in supermarket (in UK). For this recipe, you can replace it with some roasted pine nuts.
The pimentos del piquillo is a Basque speciality which I love. It’s a kind of chilli but with a very mild and sweet taste. They are sold in cans or in jars, already emptied, grilled and peeled. They are wonderful stuffed with “cod brandade”, in a quiche, in a gaspacho, or stuffed with ricotta or even a tuna mousse.
You will find them in delicatessens. I really like the Etorki brand.
If you don’t have them, think of grilled pepper that you can find in jars or use diced tomatoes.
The garlic in oil is an Italian speciality, known as “aglio sott’olio” which I buy at my Italian delicatessen Signori and Figli at Nogent sur Marne. It’s made with fresh garlic cloves which have been put in jars with olive oil or poached in a mixture of vinegar and herbs then put in jars with olive oil (thanks to Silvia for all those information). I like the fact they are crunchy with a very mild flavour of garlic with is very nice in salads. The oil in the jar is also very perfumed. It’s hard to find a substitute but think of something with some texture, like some olives for example.
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