Halloumi, mint & pickled pepper pittas

Making you own pittas: optional but encouraged

The hallmarks of spring seem to take turns. First it’s the blossom, bursting to life and bringing cheer just when we need it most. Then it’s the wild garlic, shooting up and filling woodlands with wafts of potential for punchy pestos, flecked butters, and - as I’m currently experimenting with - ferments. As quickly as it shot up, the wild garlic has now given way to later spring produce, the most lauded of which is undoubtedly asparagus. But there are other bits and bobs to make the most of too. Mint! Radishes! Spring onions! It’s their turn to have a moment in the May sunshine.

With the arrival of the season’s first crops, it seems only right to treat them simply. In short, my suggestion is as follows:

Plunge the radishes into a bowl of icy water. Char the spring onions. Put half your bunch of mint to work in a spicy, tangy pickled pepper yoghurt, and leave the other half as it is in a bouncy, twisted pile. Make a batch of pitta bread, which is much more straightforward and swift than you might think, and yields fresh pockets which are worlds apart from the cardboard discs you find in the shops. Fry planks of halloumi until deeply golden. Arrange everything on a platter and plonk in the middle of the table for everyone to dive in and stuff their own pittas. Perfect for a weekend lunch, preferably with a glass of something cold alongside, and May sunshine above.

Halloumi, mint & pickled pepper pittas

Making your own pitta bread is not strictly essential; if this doesn’t appeal I would suggest buying another sort of bread altogether because shop-bought pittas are, in my experience, always disappointing. However, based on the effort to pay off ratio, I strongly encourage you to try making your own. It really is worth it.

I like my pittas with a proportion of wholemeal flour for the nutty flavour it gives. Below the recipe are my top flour recommendations for those of you buying in the UK.