Substantial salad. Lunchbox. Fattoush.

Southwest veering northwest 4 or 5, occasionally 6, becoming variable 4 later.

Slight or moderate.

Rain at first.

Good, occasionally poor at first.

My salad days, when I was green in judgment: cold in blood...,

I am pretty sure that Cleopatra was not referring to the English summers when she remarked on her cold blood, however it gets never really hot here. Even when the sun is shining. And, as I noticed, when you live at the Atlantic. While I officially live at the “English Channel”, this refers just to the stretch which links the North Sea with the Celtic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean. Wind can get pretty rough here and even in June it is more “make sure you have a jumper with you” than “walk in your beach dress on the promenade”. So, while it looks like summer and you want something light, a salad alone is still somehow unsatisfying. Unless you mix it with bulk, preferable warm. 

Enter Fattoush, a brilliant salad which can be even taken to the office, providing you have a toaster there. You can even make it all at home, but you will then miss out the added satisfaction of the warm bread. It is based on the same idea as the Italian “Panzanella”, a thrifty dish to make use of leftover or stale bread. A salad is a great way to give stale breads a second life: Breads lend crunch and texture, soak up juices and dressings, and add flavour, too. And it bulks salads up, so if you are short of the vegetable ingredients, you can still get a pretty filling light meal. The only drawback of a Fattoush is that chopped parsley tends to linger between your teeth; so do yourself a favour and just swill your mouth with water if you see clients later.

Fattoush

Dressing:
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice, fresh-squeezed

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 garlic cloves, minced

zest of half a lemon

1 tsp dried oregano, crushed between fingertips

coarse salt and fresh black pepper, to taste

Salad:

1 large tomatoes, chopped into very small chunks

¼ cucumber, deseeded and sliced

1/4 red onion, sliced

a few mint leaves, roughly chopped

fistful flat parsley leaves, roughly chopped

1 pitta bread

1 tsp sumac (optional)

In a food processor pulse the oil, lemon juice, vinegar, mustard and garlic together until creamy. Mix in the lemon zest, oregano and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss together all the salad ingredients except for the pitta bread and sumac. Add the dressing and season to taste.  Let it sit for several hours, you can even make it the evening before. Once you are ready to eat, cut the pitta in half, toast it and tear it into small pieces. Add to the salad, let sit for a minute, sprinkle the sumac over it and enjoy.

Of course you can add 2 pittas, or if you want to stretch it over two days, add the drained and rinsed content of a tin of chickpeas. You just need a bit more dressing then. If you don’t have a toaster in the office, toast the bread at home, wrap in foil and tear it apart in the office before you eat.