Fattoush meets Greek, and the mash-up's cool
This big, beautiful bowl of goodness is a mash-up of two traditional Mediterranean salads. It gets its primary flavors from a Greek salad, with feta, scallion, dried oregano and plenty of cucumber and tomato in a lemon-olive oil dressing. It owes its hearty crunch to a Middle Eastern fattoush, a salad created to use up day-old pita that involves tossing shards of the toasted flatbread with dressed crisp greens, vegetables and herbs.
One of the delightful things about the accompanying recipe is that there is a lot of play in terms of ingredients, so feel free to add or substitute whatever inspires you at the market or is begging to be picked from your garden. Instead of the dried oregano, you could use fresh dill or mint, for example. Substitute red onion for the scallions, or use another variety of lettuce instead of romaine. Bell peppers and radishes also would be welcome additions.
For the pita, you could use rounds of the bread, day-old or not, brushed with oil, toasted in a 375-degree oven until crisp and broken into pieces.
But in the interest of keeping the kitchen cool, I chose to use store-bought pita chips here. When they're tossed with the salad, the dressing makes them soften just a bit while still retaining some crunch.
On its own, this salad makes a satisfying lunch or light dinner. It's also nice as part of a mezze spread with hummus, roasted vegetables, olives and stuffed grape leaves. Either way, it is a tasty and healthful way to satisfy your appetite and make the most of prime seasonal vegetables on a hot summer day.
• Ellie Krieger is a registered dietitian, nutritionist and author. She blogs and offers a biweekly newsletter at elliekrieger.com.