lettuce

caesar salad tartines

~ aplotzi ~ 1 Comment

Tartines are open sandwiches on bread, Tartine means open faced sandwich in French. They usually are a really delicious combo of crunchy bread and fresh salad. I decided to make a Caesar salad version, so the crunchy bread base is there instead of the croutons. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like Caesar salad or toasted bread for that matter. When I mention Caesar salad to people as a snack or meal suggestion they always jump at it, more than any other recipe! These tartines could be a great starter for a dinner party, or fantastic for dinner with my matchstick fries.

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fattoush

~ aplotzi ~ 2 Comments

This really delicious Lebanese salad is made with toasted pitas and a mix of salad vegetables and herbs and has the most delicious fragrant sweet dressing. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and sour and crunchy and soft combined. You can add radishes, carrots, olives, peppers, shredded red cabbage, feta or what ever you fancy, it’s perfect for using up vegetables in the fridge. It’s a sort of Middle Eastern version of panzanella and its really gorgeous. You can serve it as a starter, or with meat or fish and it’s perfect picnic food and pretty healthy too. I like it as a healthy lunch made with wholemeal pitas and a side order of humus and more pita bread. Over to Ralph…

Ralph here……It tasted amazing! Took me right back to my mum’s Lebanese kitchen.

Serves 2-3

Recipe

Ingredients:
Dressing:
2 teaspoons of sumac, soaked in 2 teaspoons of warm water for 10 minutes
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses
1 clove of minced garlic
1 teaspoon of wine vinegar
1/3 cup of olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Salad:
A couple of pita breads, lightly coated in olive oil and roasted in the oven till crispy then broken into smallish pieces
A handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Half a cucumber, skinned and diced
Half a red onion finely sliced
1 little Gem or baby romaine lettuce, shredded
A sprig of finely chopped parsley
A sprig of finely chopped mint

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pea mint and feta salad

~ aplotzi ~ Leave a comment

I’m a pea-a-holic and nothing thrills me more than peas in a recipe, so I made this salad as a homage to the pea, which incidentally,  is one of the highest fibre vegetables.
I eat this on home made bruschetta but if you do eat meat, it’s excellent with Lamb chops or roast chicken.

Serves 4 as a side dish.

Ingredients:
1 cup of frozen petit pois, thawed overnight in fridge (by the way, they don’t need cooking)
1 small bunch of fresh mint finely chopped
1 shredded cos lettuce
Juice and zest of a lemon
2 teaspoons maple syrup
50 ml of olive oil
1 clove of crushed garlic
½ block of crumbled feta cheese

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