I am loving summer. Loving it. Trying to squeeze all the flavor out of it, because I think this will be my last summer in North Carolina before I am banished to a frozen American urban tundra for a year or two. (More on that to come later.)
So I am enjoying the produce at the farmer's market, I don't like to put a lot of cooking on fresh locally grown seasonal produce, so I keep it simple. Two of my favorites are salads with bread. Oh, I know, it's a lot of cutting. But I think of it this way: all I'll have left to wash is a knife, cutting board, and bowl!
This week I found some heirloom tomatoes, some purple ones (I think Black Cherokee) and some that were red and yellow bi-colored tomatoes. Mmm. So I used those, along with some ciabatta bread, to make panzanella. (That's Martha's recipe.)
Another of my favorites is fattoush, which my husband has taught me to make. It's kind of a Middle Eastern version of panzanella. Or maybe it's the other way around. At any rate, fattoush is great, and you can play with the ingredients, whatever you have available, whatever you like. (Which is why there are no exact amounts here. We just put whatever we think looks good to eat.) I like mine on the tangy side so I always add an extra splash of vinegar. I have also seen recipes with fresh lemon juice instead of vinegar. You can use other herbs, too, like fresh parsley or fresh mint.
Fattoush
1 - 2 loaves of pita bread, split and toasted in the oven until crisp
1 - 2 tomatoes, cut into large dice or small wedges
yellow bell pepper, cut into strips and then cut the strips in half
red bell pepper, cut into strips and then cut the strips in half
green bell pepper, cut into strips and then cut the strips in half
lettuce (romaine will work fine here), torn or cut into bite-size pieces
red onion, sliced very thin (use a v-slicer or mandoline if you have one)
cucumber, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, seeded and sliced thin
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
dried oregano
salt
freshly ground pepper
* Break the toasted pita into bite-size pieces. Drizzle with a little olive oil and set aside.
* Toss all the veggies together (tomatoes through cucumber) in a large bowl.
* Drizzle red wine vinegar and olive oil over the contents in the bowl, then season with the oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. I've seen some recipes say the authentic way is to make the olive oil/vinegar ratio 50-50. But some people go heavier on the olive oil. We're more the 50-50 type.
* Right before serving-- add the broken pita pieces. If all the fattoush I've eaten is an indication, then this is where fattoush is different from panzanella. The bread isn't meant to soak up much-- it should add crunch to the fattoush.
* And a salt note. This spring I bought a box of Maldon Sea Salt, with big crunchy flakes. It's a condiment salt, not a cooking salt. I love it. Crunch! I thought the box would be gone quickly but it is lasting longer than I thought. I like it with tomatoes...
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