When your friends give you preserved lemons, then you make salads with preserved lemons.

This recipe is inspired by our travel in Australia. Celery is everywhere here. The preserved lemons were a gift from our lovely friend, Meg, in hipster Newtown, Sydney.  We ate a similar dish to this in Richmond, Melbourne, whilst trip-planning in a cafe and the parsley and mint are from our friend’s garden on the rooftop here in Caulfield, near St Kilda.

This makes a lovely warm sharing salad for the middle of the table.

Serves 2

Ingredients 
1/3 cauliflower
2 tablespoons olive oil
10 good mint leaves
1 or 2 snips parsley
8 celery leaves
1 cup soaked green lentils – drained
2 teaspoons fennel dukkah
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 pint of veg stock
1/4 preserved lemon thinly sliced
good sea salt
75g dairy free plain yoghurt

Method
1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the cauliflower in a little salt. Turn once they’re blackened.
2. In a saucepan boil the lentils in the stock until just under-cooked. Approx 7-8 mins. Turn of the heat and keep the lid on.
3. Once the cauliflower is blackened on all sides add a teaspoon of dukkah and roll to season evenly. Warm through for 1-2 minutes to realise the flavours from the spices in the dukkah.
4. Now get the frying pan hot and drain in the excess stock from the lentils into the frying pan and put a lid on the frying pan. The idea is to quickly steam through and soften the cauliflower.
5. Put 1/3 of the celery leaf, parsley and mint into the steaming lentils and return the lid.
6. Put 1/3 of the celery leaf, parsley and mint into the steaming cauliflower and return the lid.
7. Smear yoghurt onto the plates to serve and place the thinly sliced preserved lemons on the yoghurt.
8. Cover with lentils.
9. Now add the cauliflower and dress with the remaining green leaves.
10. Finally, dress with another pinch or two of dukkah.

Enjoy.

Much love.

Pete and Col.

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We serve different salads every day on retreat.