Alex Elliott-Howery and Sabine Spindler say: “This salad is a lighter grain-free alternative to a conventional couscous salad – the cauliflower is finely chopped or grated and takes on a grain-like shape. It is very quick and simple as the ingredients require no cooking, except for toasting the hazelnuts.

“At Cornersmith we make our own pomegranate molasses. You’ll find the recipe in our first book, or you can buy it from specialty grocers.”

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients

400g cauliflower, leaves removed
250g broccoli
zest of ½ lemon, plus the juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspoons finely chopped preserved lemon or lime rind (or the salt-preserved citrus skins below)
2 pinches of ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground sumac
2 pinches of chilli flakes
seeds from ½ pomegranate
40g toasted hazelnuts (see page 206), coarsely chopped
1 large handful of picked dill, flat-leaf (Italian) parsley and mint, torn just before serving
60ml olive oil
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses (optional)

Method

Coarsely grate the cauliflower using a box grater, or carefully pulse it in a food processor to a couscous consistency – you don’t want to chop it too small or finely, or it will be mushy. Place in a large mixing bowl.

Pick the broccoli into very small florets. Keep half the broccoli stem, peel it and slice it very thinly using a mandoline, or coarsely grate it. Add to the mixing bowl.

Add the lemon zest, preserved citrus rind, cumin, sumac and chilli flakes. Add half the pomegranate seeds, half the hazelnuts, and three-quarters of the herbs.

Season with salt, drizzle with the lemon juice and olive oil and gently combine.

Transfer to a serving bowl or large plate. Garnish with the remaining pomegranate seeds, hazelnuts and herbs, then finish with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses, if desired.

This salad is best made close to serving time.

Salt-preserved citrus skins recipe

Alex Elliott-Howery and Sabine Spindler say: “Everyone is always asking us how to use citrus skins once the fruit has been juiced. This recipe isn’t as fancy as preserved lemons, but is a great way to reduce kitchen waste and at the same time produce a delicious kitchen staple. It is similar to preserving lemons, except you’re using 100% salt to preserve the citrus skins, and no citrus juice. And you can combine all different kinds of citrus skins in the one jar – there is no need to preserve them in separate jars.

“When a recipe calls for preserved lemons or citrus peel, you can fish a bit of your salt-preserved citrus skin out of the jar, rinse it or soak it for 30 minutes, then thinly slice it to use in stews, soups, tagines, marinades and dressings.”

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Preserving time: 6 weeks

Storage: up to 2 years

Makes: 1 x 1-2 litre jar

Ingredients

lots of pure salt or cooking salt
citrus skins, such as lemon, lime, mandarin or orange

Method

Give your jar and lid a good wash and make sure they are completely dry inside.

Put a layer of cooking salt in the bottom of the jar, about 3cm (11⁄4 inches) deep. Each time you squeeze a lemon, orange or lime, flatten the peel with the palm of your hand and press it into the salt, then cover the skins with more salt. You can cut the citrus peel into strips to speed up the preserving process – just make sure all the skins are buried under the salt.

As time passes, the salt and citrus peel will compress down and you’ll be able to keep adding more to the jar.

The peel will be ready to use after about 6 weeks.

If you’re using a jar with a metal lid, just be mindful that the salt doesn’t reach the top of the jar and corrode the metal.

As the citrus peels release their juices, moisture will start to build up at the bottom of the jar – don’t worry about this, as there is so much salt in the jar that no bacteria will be able to grow.

The jar will happily sit on the benchtop indefinitely, but during a heatwave we like to store it in the fridge.

From Cornersmith: Salads and Pickles by Alex Elliott-Howery and Sabine Spindler (£18.99, Murdoch Books), out now

3 simple, summery couscous recipes to try this weekend (or anytime, really)