Bread Salad (Fatoush)

[Twitchin Kitten]

Bread Salad
Fattoush

serves 6-8

Fattoush is a rustic country salad of Syria and Lebanon which is on the standard menu of Lebanese restaurants. The old, traditional way was to moisten and soften the toasted bread with water and a little lemon juice before imbibing it further with the dressing, which made it deliciously soggy. Nowadays it is usual to put the bread in crisp like French croûtons. (I like the traditional way)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Arab or pita breads
1 head romaine lettuce, cut into ribbons
3 medium sized, firm ripe tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 small cucumbers, peeled, cut into thick slices
1 green bell pepper, seeded & cut into small slices
1 1/2 mild red or white onions, OR 9 scallions, chopped
Bunch of rocket leaves, torn
Bunch of purslane leaves or lamb's lettuce, torn
Small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
A few sprigs of mint, shredded
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon ground sumac. (if you can't find sumac, it can be omitted without changing the taste of the salad)

Cut open the breads and toast them under the broiler until they are crisp, turning them over once. Break them into small pieces in your hands.

Put all the vegetables in a large bowl with the onions, rocket and purslane leaves or lamb's lettuce, flat leaf parsley and mint.

For the dressing, mix the olive oil with the lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper and sumac.

Just before serving, add the toasted bread and toss well with the dressing.

Variation:
For the old style version, put the broken pieces of toast in a bowl. Moisten and soften with a little cold water or lemon juice before adding them to the salad.

Yummy!

We would always keep a bowl of salad on our table and let every one keep picking at it through the meal. In our house, we never eat our salad with utensils, we do it Arab style with our fingers.