Roasted Red Pepper, Orange, Green Olive Salad

This is bright and fresh and deliciously juicy and spicy. Serve after rich fried tapas. Why not toast more cumin seeds than you need, then transfer the ground cumin to an airtight jar to have on hand for other dishes?

Serves 6 as a tapas dish.

Ingredients

• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 3 large red peppers
• 2 oranges or tangelos
• ½ small red onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
• ½ cup chopped coriander
• ½ cup green olives, drained and mopped with paper towels
• 1 Tbsp tarragon vinegar
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp smoked paprika

Method

1 Put cumin seeds in a dry frying pan and set pan over a moderate heat. Toast gently until the seeds darken slightly and smell aromatic. Grind to a powder in a small spice grinder.

2 Grill peppers in a gas flame or over a barbecue grill until they char and blacken, turning with tongs. Transfer to a plate and cover with paper towels. When cool enough to handle, remove blackened skin, the remove core and seeds and slice peppers thickly. Transfer to a bowl with any juices.

3 Peel oranges with a serrated knife, removing all the white pith. Slice oranges, then cut slices in half. Put oranges in a bowl (reserve the juices and drink them!).

Top with sliced peppers, most of the onion, garlic, coriander, olives, cumin, vinegar, salt. Toss gently. Put remaining onion on top of salad and sieve over paprika. Serve immediately.