How to make zesty Fattoush Salad ahead of Lebanese Heritage Days
Lebanese Heritage Days in Easton is a festival for the senses.
Live music surrounds the crowd outside Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church at 55 S. Fourth St.
Children in vivid costumes perform folk dances throughout the weekend festivities on Saturday and Sunday.
But the draw for me has always been the scents of chicken and garlic sauce, tabbouli, shish kebabs and zataar, mingled with the sweet smell of baklava and Middle Eastern pastries.
Vivianne Rizk has been a part of the festival for years. In 2014, Rizk shared her family’s Tabbouli recipe so fans of the festival could make it at home long after the event.
In advance of the 38th annual installment of the festival, she’s revealing another favorite recipe. While you may not find Fattoush Salad on festival grounds, it’s an easy one to make at home to complement any of the main dishes you may bring back. Plus, Rizk divulges the secret dressing that adds zip to the dish.
Fattoush is a traditional salad that Rizk remembers from growing up in Lebanon. It’s studded with toasted, broken pitas and accentuated by a dressing made of garlic paste, sumac and lemon. The sumac has a lemony flavor and can be found in Middle Eastern grocery stores.
How To Make Lebanese Fattoush Salad
Vivianne Rizk, of Forks Mediterranean Deli, shows us how to make the dressing for Fattoush Salad ahead of The 2015 Lebanese Heritage Days. (Kelly Huth | Lehighvalleylive.com)
Rizk, the co-owner of Forks Mediterranean Deli at 1530 Sullivan Trail in Forks Township, remembers hearing stories from her grandparents that the salad grew out of wartime days when food was scarce. Residents of the small villages would gather the food from their gardens and use the toasted pita to scoop up the salad and make it more of a meal.
It’s a popular item today in the deli, she says. Some customers eat it plain – $6.50; or add chicken or falafel on top.
Rizk chops green leafy lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, green peppers, radishes, parsley and mint for the base. Watch the video to see how Rizk uses a mortar and pestle to mash the garlic into a paste – adding olive oil, fresh lemon juice, seasonings and sumac for flavor. Rizk notes that a food processor could be used if you don’t have a mortar and pestle, or want to speed up the process.
Lebanese Fattoush
8 servings
Ingredients:
For the salad:
Handful of mint leaves, torn
2-3 radishes, sliced
2 bunches of parsley, chopped
1 head of leafy green, curly or romaine lettuce, torn
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 medium cucumbers, chopped
Half of a green or red bell pepper, chopped
Toasted pita, broken into pieces (about 1 cup, or to taste)
About 8 scallions or a bit of red onion, diced
For the dressing:
2-3 cloves of garlic
5 Tablespoons of olive oil (adding more as needed)
1 Tablespoon sumac
Juice of one lemon
Pinch of black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
For the salad: Wash and cut the lettuce, parsley, cucumbers, radishes, bell peppers and red onion. Add the mint leaves. Add the tomatoes on top and mix together in a large bowl.
For the dressing: Add cloves of garlic to mortar and pestle. Add salt. Mash into a paste. Pour in about half the olive oil and stir. Add lemon juice and stir. Add a pinch of black pepper and a tablespoon of sumac.
Add the dressing to the salad, top with crumbled pita chips and serve.
Source: Vivianne Rizk, Forks Mediterranean Deli
Source: www.lehighvalleylive.com