Fatoush - Bread Salad

Parve, Vegan, Dairy Free

This Lebanese bread salad makes a delicious starter or light lunch in summer. And of course it has become an established Israeli favourite. I make it when I have left over g/f bread, crumbly bits that I have frozen for bread crumbs or sometimes I keep back a little dough when baking and make some mini pitta in jam tart tins especially for this.

Za'tar is a herb that is found growing wild in Lebanon and which tastes similar to thyme and savory. It is very difficult to find fresh za'tar over here but a dried version, with sesame seeds and sometimes sumac, can be found in larger kosher shops. Za'tar is often mixed with olive oil and served with flatbread.

Serves 4

Equivalent of 4 slices of g/f bread or 2 g/f pita
½ large cucumber
12 ripe cherry tomatoes
½ medium cauliflower, broken into tiny florets
2 spring onion,
6 radishes, 1 celery stick, chopped (optional)
1 small bunch each of fresh mint, coriander and flat-leaf parsley,

Cut the bread into bite size pieces
Peel, halve, seed and cut Cucumber into 1cm (½ inch) dice
Quarter the tomatoes and the radishes
Break the Cauliflower into florets (size of tomato quarters)
Finely chop the Spring onion, and the herbs

DRESSING
1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with salt
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon za'tar
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper

For the dressing, combine all the ingredients and taste for seasoning. About 5 minutes before you are ready to serve the salad, combine the bread, vegetables and herbs in a large salad bowl, breaking up the bread in your hands as you go

Add the dressing and toss well until everything is covered. Taste for seasoning.

Gluten Free Fatoush (Bread Salad)