Emphasis on "Lettuce-Less".
I have a love-hate relationship with lettuce (with the exception of mesclun mix) and right now it's just pure hate. Lately, when I've had salads, I feel like the lettuce just serves as a filler. It's been annoying me to the point that I just want to yell at the lettuce and say "Get out of the way! I want to get to the good stuff."
In my attempt to make more international dishes, I thought I'd try making a Fattoush. Fattoush (or Fatouche) is a Lebanese salad that consists of various fresh vegetables, fresh herbs, toasted pita bread and a light dressing with sumac. I always mean to order it when I go to my local Lebanese restaurant but cave in to the temptation of the other menu items. With the glorious Spring weather we've been having, I decided it was time to make a salad!
You can go ahead and add lettuce to this recipe. Just know that I'll be secretly judging you for it.
Ingredients:
2 pickle cucumbers halved and cut into half moons
2 plum tomatoes cut into strips
1 green pepper cut into strips
1/2 small onion thinly sliced
1 bunch of radishes sliced
chopped parsley
chopped mint
1/2 lemon
extra light olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
6 chicken cutlets/4 chicken breasts
1/2 lemon
extra light olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
3 whole-wheat pitas
cooking spray
* if you have sumac, add a bit to the dressing
This makes 2 servings.
------------
Season your chicken cutlets (3 per person) or chicken breasts (2 per person) with salt and pepper. Squeeze lemon juice and drizzle olive oil over the chicken and mix until coated. On a hot grill pan, grill the chicken. Let cool and cut into strips. Set aside.
Stack your 3 whole wheat pitas and chop them into 2-inch pieces. Set aside.
Prep your vegetables and herbs and mix them in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper. When it's time to serve the salad, squeeze the juice of half a lemon and drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of your olive oil and mix the salad until the vegetables are fully coated in the dressing.
Preheat your oven's broiler. Spray cooking spray onto a non-stick baking sheet. Spread your pieces of pita over the sheet and spray those pieces with cooking spray. That way you have the pieces lightly coated in oil on both sides. Add to your oven and broil for 3-4 minutes (or less depending on your oven's broiler). Flip the pieces over and broil again for 3-4 more minutes. The pita chips should be nice and crispy.
Add your salad to a plate and cover with pita chips and chicken. Garnish with a few sprigs of parsley.
I highly recommend toasting whole-wheat pita chips (the ones I used had flax seed) as a healthy alternative to croutons!
Great healthy meal. I usually sub baby spinach for lettuce these days, though lettuce is supposed to have tons of phytonutrients that make it very healthy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I find butter lettuce, endive and radicchio I'll sub that too.
That looks delicious, 'quelle! Mmm! Thanks for sharing that recipe. I'll definitely try it out one of these days. I have a love/hate relationship with lettuce too. (And I *loathe* warm lettuce as well. Ugh!) That's why I usually use baby spinach in my salads, as it has more body and taste, and nutritional value to boot.
ReplyDeleteI too love pita crisps. They're also a great alternative to nachos/chips. I toast mine sprinkled with garlic powder, sea salt and pepper - they're great on their own or dipped in tzatziki sauce or salsa.
Hello Raquelle! I found this blog in Foodista and followed it here. This is a lovely blog and awesome Lettuce-Less Fattoush with Grilled Chicken recipe. This is a very intresting dish indeed. By the way you can place more Foodista widget in your past and future blogs so that other Foodista readers can follow and see your blog too. Just search for a related recipe or food in Foodista and use its widget. I hope to read more from you. Cheers!
ReplyDelete