Fattoush – my way

If you like lemon you will like fattoush. I first had this at a Lebanese restaurant and instantly loved it. The original recipe is high in calories from the olive oil in the dressing. My version of fattoush uses chia seeds to emulsify the dressing with much less fat. I kept the important parts of the salad, the small dice of tomato and cucumber, the lemon juice, sumac and toasted flat bread.

If you are unfamiliar with sumac it is a ground dried berry that has a tart lemony flavor. I buy my sumac on-line from Zamouri Spice.

Fattoush – my way
Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 whole wheat roll up, torn into bite sized pieces
1 teaspoon of olive oil
10 cups of mesclun greens, torn into bite sized pieces
½ cup of fresh parsley, leaves picked
1 cup of red tomatoes, finely diced
1 cup of yellow tomatoes, finely diced
2 cups of cucumbers, finely diced
¼ cup of broccoli sprouts
3 tablespoons of lemon dressing (recipe below)
14 ounces of brined artichokes, cut into bite sized pieces
2 teaspoons of sumac powder

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed skilled. Toss the flat bread pieces in the oil and cook over medium heat until the bread is crispy. When crispy turn off the heat and finish the salad.

Put all the vegetables into a large bowl and toss with the dressing. When the vegetables are evenly coated sprinkle with the sumac powder and toss to coat.

Place the salad and top with the crispy flat bread pieces so they stay crispy as long as possible.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 284.18
Calories From Fat (31%) - 87.75

Total Fat - 10.36g
Saturated Fat - 1.34g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 965.78mg
Potassium - 1155.62mg
Total Carbohydrates - 39.64g
Fiber - 15.49g
Sugar - 7.41g
Protein - 15.02g

Lemon Dressing for Fattoush Salad
Makes 12 tablespoons

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons of ground chia seeds
juice and zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons of water
¼ teaspoon of kosher salt
¼ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients and stir so the chia seeds are evenly distributed. Stir every few minutes while the chia seeds are absorbing the water. The dressing is ready to use in 10 minutes and will hold in the refrigerator for days.

Nutritional Information (per tablespoon):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 44.62
Calories From Fat (72%) - 32.07

Total Fat - 3.71g
Saturated Fat - 0.46g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 40.32mg
Potassium - 15.08mg
Total Carbohydrates - 2.61g
Fiber - 1.87g
Sugar - 0.14g
Protein - 0.77g

Comments:

This salad is light but filling. It is a good salad to have if you are eating late and don’t want a heavy meal to digest before bed. I make this a lot of lunch since I normally always have lettuce, tomato, cucumber, lemon and flat bread in the house. If you like feta, the almond feta would be nice on this salad.