Recipe

Make Pickled Onions

1. Peel red onion, cut into fine half- moons, and put into a jar or bowl. Cover with red wine vinegar — use regular stuff here: no need for a fancy, expensive sort — and either put a lid on the jar or cover the bowl with food wrap or a side plate, and leave to steep. If you want, you can do this part well in advance; 24 hours ahead would be fine, though a couple of hours should do it.

Make Salad

1. Halve cherry tomatoes across equator and tumble them into a shallow bowl.
2. Sprinkle over dried mint and spoon over capers; don’t worry if you get a little bit of vinegar from the jar in with them. Give a good grind of pepper over them, toss well, then cover the bowl with food wrap and give it a good shimmy before leaving it on the kitchen counter for at least an hour, but up to 4.
3. When you’re ready to serve, remove the food wrap, pour over extra-virgin olive oil, add 1 tbsp of freshly chopped mint and a sprinkle of sea salt flakes, and toss well. Taste to see if you want any more salt, then decant into a serving dish or plate (unless you’re going to serve the salad in the bowl the tomatoes were steeping in). Scatter over half your remaining tablespoonful of freshly chopped mint, squeeze vinegar out of the onions, and add the lucent pink curls to the tomatoes, followed by a final scattering of mint.