Jul 08, 2008
In the past, my family included salads to our meat dishes because we knew the importance of vegetables, but fattoush is one of few salads we actually crave. In fact, I make a larger batch (separating the pita chips so that they don't become soggy) to use for lunch the next day. Regarding those pita chips, sorry, you can't replace the real thing with the store bought variety. The pita chips make this salad what it is and besides, it only adds about ten minutes - including clean up! - to cook time. Just make sure to carefully watch the frying and only cook until pita bread is LIGHT brown in color. Remove from stove and let them continue to cook in the hot oil for another minute until they are darker. (If not, you quickly run the risk of burning the bread.) I do recommend having all the salad ingredients on hand. In regards to the dressing, if you don't have/don't want to buy onion flakes and celery salt, just add more lemon pepper (although I find the crushed lemon or sumac sold in Middle Eastern shops to be better alternatives) and more white wine vinegar to give it that extra tang. This salad is a great match for beef dishes and we also like it for our Middle Eastern mezze night where we make this salad, hummus and falafel. Thanks for the recipe.
—m0wlp42
