Italian buckwheat salad

Buckwheat is thought by many to be a grain, but would you know it’s actually a fruit, closely related to rhubarb? It’s naturally gluten-free, has a low GI and is alkaline forming in the body, so it helps to cleanse and detoxify. No wonder your body high-fives you when you eat it.

Credit: Jo Anderson

• serves

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  35 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 onion, peeled and finely diced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1½ cups buckwheat
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 5 rashers streaky bacon or pancetta
• 1 punnet cherry tomatoes
• ¾ cup frozen peas
• juice of 1 lemon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tsp smoked paprika (see Note)
• ½ cup almond slivers, toasted
• 1 preserved lemon, rind only, rinsed and finely diced
• ½ cucumber de-seeded and finely diced
• 1 x 400 g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed well
• 1 handful Italian flat leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
• 1 handful mint leaves, torn
• 80 g feta cheese

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190ºC. 

Sauté the onion in 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large, deep frying pan on medium-high heat until tender, then add the buckwheat and allow to toast slightly in the pan for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the stock, cover and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, stirring now and again.

Meanwhile, line a baking dish with foil and top with the bacon and cherry tomatoes. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. The cherry tomatoes may need to be removed before the bacon and set aside, you want the bacon to be nice and crispy. Once the bacon is done, remove from the oven, allow to cool slightly and chop into small pieces.

Check on the buckwheat, you may need to add a little more water while it cooks for another 8 minutes. You want it to be slightly undercooked because buckwheat tends to become mushy when overcooked. Once all the liquid is absorbed and the buckwheat still has a very slight crunch to it, it is ready. Set aside to cool.

While the buckwheat is cooling, bring a small pot of water to the boil. Add the peas and allow to cook for 3 minutes then remove them from the heat, strain the hot water and place some ice cubes over them so the cooking process is stopped and the peas retain their vibrant green colour. 

Drizzle the remaining olive oil and the lemon juice over the buckwheat and season with salt and pepper and paprika, mix well. Serve in bowls with the bacon, tomato, peas and the rest of the ingredients.

Note

• Sweet smoked paprika has a more intense flavour than regular paprika and can be found in specialty food stores.

Recipe from The Luminous Kitchen by Jo Anderson, with photographs by Jo Anderson.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.