A wintry bread salad

This is a bright and warming salad for the wintry months, featuring another market hero from this week’s haul – cavolo nero. The bread is roasted with thyme sprigs and makes an excellent base to soak up and showcase all the flavours, pomegranate seeds add a cheerful colour splash, and the red onions in a little pomegranate molasses and red wine vinegar round it off with a zing.

Most herbs would be good in this – I like the anise backdrop of basil and the mild savouriness of parsley against the onion, but dill, mint, sorrel or coriander would all have their places.

I added half the bread before the quickly pickled onions to soak up some of the juices, rounding it off with the other half to retain a good crunch.

Above all, it looks great and would make a decent festive starter.

Serves 1

• 1 slice bread

• 2 sprigs thyme

• Handful of cavolo nero or other wintry leafy green

• Handful of herbs (I used parsley and basil)

• ½ red onion

• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

• 1 tsp pomegranate molasses

• Handful of pomegranate seeds

1. Wash and dry the cavolo nero. Cut out and discard the thickest part of the base of the stalk, then roughly chop the leaves.

2. Slice the red onion finely.

3. Add the red onion to a bowl with the vinegar, pomegranate molasses and a little salt, and mix well. Leave to stand.

4. Cut the bread into rough cubes.

5. Pick the thyme leaves off their stalks and discard the stalks.

6. Toss the bread in olive oil with the thyme leaves, salt and pepper.

7. Grill for 5-10 minutes until golden, turning once halfway.

8. Finely chop the herbs.

9. Toss the cavolo nero with the herbs.

10. Add half the croutons, then spoon in onions with some of the vinegar mix.

11. Add the other half of the croutons, and scatter over the pomegranate seeds.