Sweet, saffron, roasted tomatoes with labneh

The secret to great salads is fresh, wonderful ingredients brought together with balance. This salad has amazing ingredients: saffron, spicy harissa paste, creamy garlic yoghurt, and sweet caramelized summer tomatoes. They come together beautifully.

This salad is packed with flavour. The wonderful sweet roasted tomatoes, scented with saffron and spiced with harissa paste, the creamy yoghurt, and blanched almonds come together beautifully. You could serve it as a salad with some lettuce and pita bread, as in this picture, or as a side dish with grilled meats or a slow-braised stew. This dish is definitely one that I will make again.

This was my first Diana Henry cookbook, and after making a couple of recipes from it, I was addicted to her cooking. The recipes feature flavours and cuisines from around the world, and her writing style is fun and easy. Like this recipe, the recipes step away from the ordinary and are just amazing.

For more wonderful recipes from this cookbook, click here.

Ingredients:

For the yoghurt sauce:

1 cup labneh or Greek yoghurt

2 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons mint, cilantro or parsley or a mix of any or all of them

Salt to taste

White pepper

For the tomatoes:

1 lb cherry tomatoes or other small sweet tomatoes, halved

3-4 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 tablespoons harissa paste, commercial is fine

A generous pinch of saffron threads

1 teaspoon sugar, only if the tomatoes are not sweet

Salt to taste

To serve:

Lettuce (Optional)

Bread of choice, pita, Arab or Afghan flatbreads

1/2 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Juice of 1/2 lemon or lime

A drizzle of EVOO

1 tablespoon cilantro, minced

To roast the tomatoes:

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and layer, if possible, the mix on a lined baking sheet. Roast for about 25-40 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and beginning to show slight signs of caramelization. Remove into a bowl, collecting all the delicious juices from the pan.

To make the yoghurt:

Add all ingredients to a small blender and purée to smooth. The author suggests mixing all the ingredients into the yoghurt and hanging it in cheesecloth to get a thick yoghurt. However, I am usually too lazy or in a hurry to do this step. I find the sauce just as delicious as is. If you can find labneh in any Mediterranean store, you can mix the ingredients into this thick yoghurt, and you should be set.

To serve:

I like to serve this with some lettuce for some crunch. Layer the lettuce leaves around a wide, shallow bowl. Add the roasted tomatoes to the center and drizzle or add the formed labneh mix over the tomatoes. Sprinkle with the slivered almonds and cilantro. Serve with bread on the side.