Crunchy Persimmon Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Servings 2

Ingredients

3 fresh persimmons 

Extra virgin olive oil

100g stale bread, roughly torn

1 tbsp chopped walnuts

¼ cup Kalamata olives, dried

1 bunch of sage

1 tbsp sherry vinegar 

1 lemon

100g buffalo mozzarella 

Salt and pepper

Method

Slice the persimmons into rounds, discarding the ends. Arrange persimmons on a plate, reserving some slices for a second layer. Heat some olive oil in a pan and add stale bread, walnuts and a pinch of salt. Toast the ingredients, adding more oil if needed. 

Meanwhile, use a mortar and pestle to ground the dried olives. Add 1 tbsp olive oil to the olives with sherry vinegar and continue to combine. Add sage leaves to the pan with the bread. Peel a few slices of lemon zest, being careful to avoid the pith. Finely slice the zest and scatter over the persimmons.

Once toasted, add most of the bread to the mortar and pestle and grind into the paste. Reserve the sage leaves and walnuts. Add about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to the paste. 

Spoon some of the olive dressing over the slices persimmons with torn pieces of buffalo mozzarella. Add a few more slices of persimmons and top with more of the olive dressing, some of the remaining sage leaves. walnuts and bread and season with a good amount of cracked pepper.