Fattoush

Mixed salad in the Levantine Manner:

Ok, so this is just a mixed salad. All the ingredients should be as fresh as possible. Salads are great for summer and since it is going to hit triple digits in heat over the next week I thought it was appropriate.

I have a slightly amusing salad story. Back in Scotland as a wee bairn, I had invited my friend Andrew to stay over the weekend and we made plans to the effect that my friend would come to my house right after school so we could change out of school uniforms and into “play clothes” and then we would head out to the abandoned abattoir on the cliff overlooking on the cliff (We did not of course tell my parents about that part). Supper would be at eight, and when we arrived back from picking over bones and tossing them off the cliff into the sea, the first course was being laid on the table.

Andrew had no problems with the first course, a shrimp cocktail which he devoured, stating that he only ever had that on his mother’s birthdays when they went out to the local Hotel for supper. The main course was a roast, I don’t remember what, roast beast of some kind probably mutton or lamb, with vegetables and mashed potatoes. This he was also okay with, reminiscent as it was of our school dinners. Then the salad was served, a light iceberg lettuce mixed salad.

Andrew looked at it in horror, my mother asked him what was wrong, hadn’t he ever had a salad before? The look on his face was classic, and he said “No, me Mam usually just makes baked beans on toast, or chips (French Fries) I don’t eat vegetables that are not cooked, me Mam says they make you poorly and I don’t like to be sick. “ Always the gracious hostess my mother told him he did not have to eat it if he didn’t want to. Relieved, Andrew sat quietly until the dessert, which I remember being chocolate gateau with clotted cream, made by the cake master down the road which seemed to make up for the horrors of an uncooked vegetable.

I can still picture his face: “OMG, they are trying to poison me!”

Good times, anyway Fattoush is a salad served throughout the Levantine and very popular in Lebanon and Syria in particular. I enjoyed it as a break from the standard tabbouleh salad that seemed almost perverse in the quantities that it was consumed.

Fresh ingredients always, but feel free to add sliced bell peppers, radishes or even pomegranate. If you add feta cheese and you have a basic Greek salad too!

For six people:

Ingredients:

1 large or two small romaine lettuces washed and torn into small pieces

2 Large tomatoes cut into large dice

1 Cucumber (Peeled or not) cut into large dice

½ Cup of kalamata Olives

Fresh mint (Optional) or dried mint

Diced Red or Green Pepper (Optional)

Toasted pita bread broken into Chunks (Optional.)

Dressing:

1/3 Cup of Olive oil

3 Tablespoons of Lemon juice

Salt and Pepper

Method:

Toss all the vegetables in a large bowl, mix the dressing ingredients well and pour over the salad, toss once more, and serve immediately. If desired sprinkle with toasted pita bread.

Note this salad does not keep well, and if you forget it and shove it behind the milk one morning, it becomes a strange salad soup (No not gazpacho), and I encourage you to then throw out the whole container.