Mark says: “If you have yet to fall in love with kale, this might just be the bunch of flowers you were looking for. While it is perfectly delightful steamed or briefly boiled, I love kale best either oiled and roasted until crisp, or raw, with a salt rub letting the texture down just enough to please the bite. Make this and I’m confident that not only will this recipe become a winter favourite, you’ll also be taking these two ways of preparing kale into so many other meals.

“This tabbouleh is a miracle in itself, taking the brightest of winter’s vegetables – fennel, kale, cauliflower – and sliding them into something that looks hard out of the window at summer without ever leaving the comfort of the house.”

Serves 4

Ingredients

150g (5oz) coarse bulgur wheat
200g (7oz) curly kale, stalks removed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 fennel bulb, trimmed and finely chopped
½ small cauliflower, trimmed of leaves and shaved into tiny florets (a mandoline is helpful here)
1 large pomegranate, seeds only
50g (2oz) dried pear, thinly sliced
small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
50g (2oz) lightly toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
1 tsp sumac, plus more to sprinkle on top
juice of ½ lemon
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dressing:

zest and juice of ½ lemon
80ml (3fl oz) olive oil
50ml (2fl oz) pomegranate molasses
1 small garlic clove, crushed
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C/140°C fan/320°F and line a baking tray with baking parchment.

Soak the bulgur according to the packet instructions, then drain in a sieve, refresh with cold water and drain well.

Tear half the kale leaves into roughly 3–4cm (11⁄4–11⁄2in) pieces and toss with the olive oil, a pinch of salt and the sesame seeds. Arrange in a single layer on the baking tray and cook for 4–8 minutes, giving a couple of stirs, until crisp and dark green with a little brown at the edges.

Thinly slice the rest of the kale, rub vigorously with a good pinch of salt (this seasons and also softens the texture) and stir into the bulgur.

Mix all of the dressing ingredients and season to taste, then mix into the bulgur with all of the remaining ingredients (except the roasted kale) and check the seasoning. Stir through half the roasted kale and spread the tabbouleh out on a platter, topping with the remaining roasted kale and a sprinkle of sumac.

VEGAN: Yes.

GF: Use buckwheat or quinoa instead of the bulgur wheat.

SEASONAL SWAPS: The vegetables in this recipe are available all year, so you can make this whenever the mood takes, but don’t let that stop you substituting other vegetables to a roughly equal weight.

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