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Pork, coriander and leek kofta with grilled little gem salad
Serves 4 Starters and mains
Ingredients
- 2 trimmed leeks (white part only), finely chopped
- 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 600g minced pork
- 50ml red wine, chilled
- 1tbsp red wine vinegar, chilled
- ½tsp sea salt
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- zest 1 large unwaxed orange
- 2tsp toasted ground coriander
- ½tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ½tsp dried oregano (preferably Greek)
For the Little gem salad
- 4 little gem lettuce, cut in half lengthways
- 3tbsp olive oil
- 150g plain yoghurt
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1tsp cumin seeds, lightly crushed
- 50g pistachios or pine nuts,lightly toasted
- 1tbsp za’atar
- 1 x 400g can chickpeas, rinsed and patted dry
- small handful chopped oregano
Method
Preheat the barbecue. In a frying pan over a low heat, fry the leeks in the olive oil for 10 minutes until soft. Spread out on a plate to cool, then put in the freezer to chill completely – they should not be warm when you add them to the meat. Put the pork in a bowl and mix with the wine, vinegar and sea salt, then chill for 10 minutes.
Add the leeks to the meat, along with the garlic, orange zest, spices and oregano and mix well. Take 1tbsp of the mixture and cook it on the barbecue grill over a high heat, then taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary.
Shape the remaining mixture into 4–8 flat sausage shapes (depending on the size of your skewers) or smaller, flat meatball shapes, then thread a skewer through each. Grill the pork skewers for 8–10 minutes over a medium-high heat, turning often, until cooked through.
Meanwhile, for the salad, toss the lettuce in a bowl with 1tbsp olive oil and a pinch of salt. Put the yoghurt in another bowl and mix with the garlic, cumin, the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Spread the yoghurt over a platter, drizzle the remaining olive oil over and scatter the nuts and za’atar over.
Put the lettuce, cut-side down, on the barbecue, over a medium heat, and grill for3 minutes, then turn and cook for a couple more minutes on the other side until nicely charred all over.
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