Fattoush Lebanese Salad

Step 1

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400F/200C.

Step 2

Cut whole wheat pita into strips about 3/4 inch wide and arrange on baking sheet. (Some recipes call for brushing the pita with olive oil, but I didn't do that.)

Step 3

Bake until pita strips are crisp but only barely starting to brown, less than 10 minutes. Watch carefully because they can go from crisp to overly brown rather quickly. Let pita bread strips cool, then crumble into bite-sized pieces.

Step 4

Chop tomatoes and let them drain a bit if they're extra juicy. Chop cucumbers.

Step 5

For dressing, mash together the chopped garlic and salt using a mortar and pestle, or the side of a knife or spoon. Put garlic-salt paste in a small bowl, then add lemon juice and 1 tsp. Sumac (affiliate link). Whisk in olive oil and set dressing aside. (You can also make the dressing in a glass jar and shake to combine.)

Step 6

Remove outer leaves from Romaine, trim stem end, then wash and spin dry or dry with paper towels. Cut Romaine into fourths lengthwise, then turn and chop crosswise into small pieces. (If you have a salad spinner (affiliate link), you can chop the Romaine first, then wash.)

Step 7

Put chopped Romaine into salad bowl large enough toss all ingredients.

Step 8

Wash and chop the fresh mint, fresh parsley, and green onions. (Use the ingredients you prefer.)

Step 9

Add tomatoes cucumber, fresh herbs, and green onions to bowl.

Step 10

Add about half of the dressing and toss, then add crumbled pita chops and toss again with more dressing. (You may not want all the dressing, but this salad should be quite wet.) At this point the salad should sit for a few minutes (or longer) to let flavors blend and so the pita chips absorb some of the dressing.

Step 11

To serve, arrange salad on individual plates and sprinkle with a bit more Sumac. You can also serve it in a large bowl with the Sumac sprinkled over.

Step 12

When I made this for guests I tossed the salad together before they arrived, and it was perfect when I served it about 30 minutes later.