This is one of my favorite salad recipes EVER!!!! It tastes so delicious and it’s really healthy too. I have people ask me all the time for this recipe because it’s the BEST Fattoush recipe around. Enjoy!
This recipe is from the cookbook: The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative For Lifelong Health by Nancy Harmon Jenkins
Fattoush Salad
Lebanese Toasted Bread Salad
The key ingredient in fattoush is sumac, a dark red, lemony astringent flavoring much used in the Middle East. It is available in this country in shops in Middle Eastern neighborhoods or by mail order from specialty food stores and spice shops. If you buy whole sumac berries, grind them coarsely or pound in a mortar.
Ingredients:
2 small Arab flatbreads (pita) or use store bought
1 small head of romaine, chopped
8 radishes, thinly sliced or chopped
8 scallions, both white and green parts, sliced
2 to 4 small pickle type cucumbers or 1 or 2 regular cucumbers, peeled and sliced or chopped
3 medium tomatoes, cut into thick chunks
1/3 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint or 2 tsp. crumbled dried
1 or 2 cloves of garlic to taste
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
freshly ground pepper to taste
2 Tbsp. coarsely ground sumac
Directions:
You could make this recipe the proper way and do the steps listed below, or you can be lazy like me and use store bought pita chips. I especially like garlic flavored pita chips found in the deli section at the grocery store. I have made this recipes using both store bought pita chips, and homemade ones. Either way, it’s amazing!
If using store bought pita chips, then skip this step! Split each of the breads in half horizontally so that you have 4 thin rounds of bread. Toast the breads lightly under the broiler, just enough to turn them pale golden and crisp. Break up the crisp toasts into small pieces and put in the bottom of a large salad bowl. Pile the salad vegetables on top, in the order listed, sprinkling the parsley and mint over the top.
Crush the garlic with the flat blade of a knife and chop it coarsely. In a separate small bowl, mash the garlic with the salt, using the back of a spoon. Stir in the lemon juice and oil, beating with a fork to mix well, and pour the dressing over the salad. Grind the black pepper over the top and sprinkle the sumac on last. Take the salad bowl to the table and toss the ingredients together just before serving to keep the bread from gettting soggy before it is served.
Makes 6 servings.
Nutrional data, per portion
Calories 175 Carbohydrate 20g Saturated Fat 1g
Protein 4g Sodium 598 mg Monunsaturated
Fat 10g Cholestrol 0 Fat 7g