Food Maturity – Fattoush

Over the years in my job, I have come to work very closely with a small group of colleagues. We have travelled together numerous times, attending conferences, meetings, and workshops and during these excursions, we have come to know each other well and become friends. I have been to their houses, I know their spouses and children, and I’ve learned the types of foods they prefer to eat. One in the group orders seared scallops or sesame-crusted tuna whenever it’s on the menu. Another always chooses a steak house, every chance she gets. One person became obsessed with chicken over rice from the Halal food carts every time we met in New York City. And at meetings in Buffalo, we always ate vast quantities of spicy chicken wings, a relatively equal split between those who prefer the flat portion of the wing and those who like the drumette.

One colleague, for the sake of anonymity let’s call him Rich, has never been as adventurous as some of the others in the group when it comes to dining. Frankly, he’s a picky eater. We frequently dined at a particular Italian restaurant while we held a bi-monthly meeting. To start, we were served an antipasto, often a plate of grilled vegetables with some caprese salad. Rich, holding up his hands before he took a bite, would say “Who wants my asparagus, mushrooms, and zucchini? I haven’t touched them.” If a speck of mayonnaise or sour cream ever polluted his plate it was sent back to the kitchen for correction. He knows he’s picky and has accepted it as part of his lot in life.

On one occasion when we were in Washington D.C. for an annual convention, I asked my brother, who lived in the area at the time, for a dining suggestion near our hotel. He directed us to an excellent Lebanese restaurant. Everyone was excited, except for Rich. He must have been very nervous, not knowing if he would find something on the menu he would eat, never having dined on Lebanese fare before. We ordered all manner of food; hummus and baba ganoush, labneh and kibbeh, fattoush and tabouli, shawarma and falafel, grilled vegetables and grilled meats. When it came time for Rich to place his order, there was a pause. Finally, after lots of thought and hesitation, he ordered…chicken fingers from the children’s menu. The waiter stopped and looked at him in disbelief. We all rolled our eyes. Really? Chicken fingers? When the food came, everyone else was delighted, but I vaguely recall Rich being upset by an adornment of hummus ruining the whole plate. “Who puts hummus on a plate of chicken fingers?!!”

Of course, we gave Rich a hard time both in the moment and for years to come. We teased him incessantly (and deservedly) at practically every meal from that time forward about his Lebanese chicken fingers. But while Rich has had to deal with our harassment (and he took it well), I also like to think it has encouraged him to be more adventurous when he dines. He now comes to the table describing how much he likes that hummus and sometimes texts the whole group a photo of his menu selection, boasting of ordering something that would never have graced his plate years ago. We’re all very proud of him.

Fattoush

Fattoush is a Lebanese salad with chopped, raw vegetables, fresh herbs, and crunchy pita chips in a tart olive oil-based dressing. It is a bright, welcome opening to a Middle Eastern meal. There are as many recipes for fattoush as there are cooks in Lebanon, but they all have in common pita chips and ground sumac. The pita chips, filling a similar niche as croutons or toasted nuts, make the salad, and are a great way to use up stale pita before it goes to waste. I would avoid store-bought pita chips as you want to infuse home-cooked ones with the flavor of sumac as they are toasted in an oily pan. As for the sumac, it is ground into a powder from a dried fruit adding a unique, tart, citrusy flavor to Middle Eastern foods. It wouldn’t be fattoush without it.

The dressing, of course, varies from chef to chef. Sometimes it is sour from pomegranate molasses, while other times slightly tamer without. We once dined at a well-regarded Palestinian restaurant in Brooklyn where I found the fattoush to be almost inedible because it was so pungent from the volume of pomegranate molasses. The recipe I prepare is based on one found all over the internet seemingly lacking attribution, which tames the tartness just enough and adds freshness by using lime juice in its place.

Fattoush is easily made and endlessly adaptable, depending on the season and what is available fresh in the garden or market. It is the perfect starter to any meal, or can serve as the main course itself, if accompanied by a hunk of cheese or some simple grilled chicken or meat.

half hour, serves 4 as an appetizer, small plate, or side salad

For the pita chips:

2 pieces of pocket-style pita, stale is fine

3 Tbsp. olive oil

½ tsp. ground sumac

½ tsp. kosher salt

¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

For the salad:

1 small head Romaine lettuce

1 cucumber, peeled, or 1 English or 2 – 3 Persian cucumbers (no need to peel these), chopped

2 large tomatoes or 15 cherry or grape tomatoes, chopped

4 scallions, thinly sliced

5 radishes, sliced

1 cup Italian flat-leafed parsley, chopped

½ cup fresh mint, chopped

carrots, grated (optional)

red or green pepper, chopped (optional)

For the dressing:

juice of 1½ limes, about 3 Tbsp.

⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ tsp kosher salt

¼ tsp. fresh ground black pepper

½ tsp. ground sumac

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

⅛ tsp. ground allspice

1. Prepare the pita chips by toasting the whole pita loaves in a toaster oven until crisp but not browned. (Skip this step if using stale pita.) Break the pita into bite-size pieces. Heat the olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium. Add the pita pieces and cook until brown, stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. When almost done, add the sumac, salt, and black pepper. Toss to coat the pita chips in the spices. Cook for another couple of minutes making sure not to scorch the spices. Remove to a plate or bowl and set aside to cool.
2. Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Prepare the salad dressing by whisking together all dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
4. Just before serving, dress the salad with the dressing, tossing lightly to cover evenly. Then add the pita chips and toss again.

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