So a couple of days ago, I wrote about my new found love for Egyptian dukkah and posted my Dukkah Recipe with Almonds & Hazlenuts. This week I am going to move a bit further East for a Lebanese Fattoush Salad recipe. I am going to go for it and say that I think that Lebanese food is my favourite of all cuisines – lemons and nuts are 100% my favourite two ingredients and in Lebanon, they cook with both all the time. Brilliant! For those who are not familiar with fattoush, it is a zesty salad filled with herbs and sumac and topped with crispy toasted pitta breads, or in this case, toasted sourdough. The thing that I love about it most, though, is that while some of the bread stays deliciously crunchy, other bits soak up that zingy dressing and act like little bready sponges, delivering a generous dose of the beautiful flavours with each mouthful.
If I could give you all one tip for today, it would be to head to the shops and get yourself a pot of sumac. Sumac is an Eastern spice that has a really yummy, salty, lemony taste that adds bucket-loads of flavour. I use it ALL the time in things like dressings, dips and hummus recipes. I roast my vegetables with it and sprinkle it over salads and soups, too. It’s seriously delicious and I promise it won’t become one of those things that finds itself at the back of the cupboard, never to be used again! Check out Moon Valley for the lowdown on finding the best varieties and more info on how sumac is produced – I love their stuff.
This Fattoush Salad makes the perfect, fresh addition to a Lebanese feast – I like to prepare a big table feast filled with hummus, Moussaka, gluten-free flatbreads, falafels and tabbouleh. Heaven. Happy feasting!
- 1.5 baby gem lettuces
- 1 slice of sourdough toast or 1 wholemeal pitta bread
- 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
- 3-4 radishes, halved or quartered depending on size
- 1 tablespoon of parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon of mint, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon of chives, roughly chopped
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced on an angle
- 5cm piece of cucumber, cut into 2cm chunks
- 100ml olive oil
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon of sumac
- Pinch of salt
- ½ a clove of garlic, finely chopped
- Start by making the dressing so that the flavour of the sumac can infuse. Simply combine all of the ingredients together in a glass and whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Next, chop the lettuce – I like to do this by cutting them in half lengthways and then cutting each half into little wedges from the root. Lay in a bowl or on a platter.
- Pile the remaining salad ingredients on top of the lettuce and finish with a generous dousing of the dressing.
- Serve fresh with lots of other little Eastern inspired dishes.
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