Bread salad with figs and lemon onions

Name: Bread salad with figs and lemon onions recipe
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 2 thick slices of stale bread, crusts trimmed; 1 medium lemon; 3 red onions, quartered; 60ml olive oil; Handful thyme or oregano sprigs; 1 small garlic clove, crushed; 3 anchovy fillets; 4 tomatoes, 1 peeled, 3 roughly chopped; 20.00 ml red wine vinegar; 1 sweet bullhorn pepper, cored, seeded and roughly sliced; 20.00 ml capers; 20.00 ml caper leaves, purslane or other edible weeds (responsibly foraged or from specialty green grocers); 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped; Handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped; 4 fresh figs, cut into wedges; Handful basil leaves

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by delicious. team

delicious. team

Apr 09, 2025

“This recipe should be thought of as a base for a strictly seasonal salad... a bowl of anything from your summer garden: everything goes! If you don’t have any of your own, ask your local baker for day-old bread. We have added lemony roasted onions that soaked in the juice, and who could forget figs?" – Rose Richards

Recipe by Dom Gattermayr and Rose Richards. This is an edited extract from A Heide Harvest by Alice Crowe and Maximilian, published by Thames & Hudson Australia, AUD $64.99. Photography by Robyn Lea.

2 thick slices of stale bread, crusts trimmed
1 medium lemon
3 red onions, quartered
¼ cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
Handful thyme or oregano sprigs
1 small garlic clove, crushed
3 anchovy fillets
4 tomatoes, 1 peeled, 3 roughly chopped
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 sweet bullhorn pepper, cored, seeded and roughly sliced
1 tbs capers
1 tbs caper leaves, purslane or other edible weeds (responsibly foraged or from specialty green grocers)
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
Handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
4 fresh figs, cut into wedges
Handful basil leaves

Method

1.

Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C fan-forced.
2.

Tear or chop bread into rough 1-2cm pieces and set aside.
3.

Halve and juice lemon, reserving both juice and squeezed halves. Combine onion, about 1 tbs of the oil and most of the juice (reserving about 1 tbs for the bread marinade) and toss to combine. Add thyme or oregano and season. Place in a deep baking tray and add lemon halves. Cover tray with foil and roast for 30 minutes, or until slightly translucent and soft. Set aside to cool.
4.

Meanwhile, make marinade for bread. Thoroughly mash garlic, anchovies and peeled tomato in a bowl. Add vinegar, remaining oil and reserved lemon juice, and season. Continue mashing to form a pulp. Toss through bread pieces, cover with a damp tea towel and set aside for around 10 minutes, or until bread has soaked up some of the marinade.
5.

When onion mixture has cooled, discard lemon halves. Remove bread from marinade, reserving both. Put onion, chopped tomato, bullhorn pepper, capers, edible weeds, cucumber, parsley and bread in a large bowl and toss to combine.
6.

Top with the figs and basil. Drizzle with some of the marinade. Season to taste and allow to cool slightly before serving with remaining marinade alongside.