What's for Dinner? Fattoush Salad & Roasted Salmon

This was a delicious dinner, and pretty simple to make.

A fattoush salad is the Middle Eastern version of the Italian panzanella salad.
You use stale naan or pita to make a bread salad w/ tomatoes, cukes, radishes and lots of fresh herbs in a yogurt tangy dressing.

I LOVED THIS SALAD from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem cookbook, what took me so long to make it?

I made his silly yogurt, milk 3 hour concoction for the dressing, which is a waste of time, in my humble opinion.
Instead, just make a yogurt dressing, thinning w/ a little milk and fresh lemon juice, why the 3 hours? not necessary.

and the salmon was equally as easy.....Mark Bittman's idea of cooking the butter first in the oven, then placing the salmon filet on top w/ some herbs. Genius. Foolproof.

Here's another idea, make your own pita chips. I rarely buy pita, but I bought a package just to have these in the house. They are delicious w/ hummus, or any dip....you can sprinkle w/ garlic salt, herbs, and in my case sumac, and they are much cheaper than Stacy's Pita Chips, which by the way, I DO NOT OWN!

People always come up to me and say one of two things:

1. "Do you know you look exactly like Celine Dion?"
2. "Oh, you are Stacy's Snacks, you are the pita chip lady!" (btw, I am STACEY, with an "E").

Pita Chips:

Cut the pitas into triangles, like a pie, and toss w/ olive oil and whatever spice/herb you like. I sprinkled sumac (a Middle Eastern spice that has a lemon zest flavor).
Season w/ kosher salt.

Spread the pita pieces on a baking sheet and bake in a 375F for 20 minutes, turing once at the 10 minute mark. Make sure they are not burning. Set aside. These keep for a few days in a ziploc bag.

Fattoush Salad: (adapted from Ottolenghi's Jerusalem)

6 radishes, sliced thin
2 green onions, sliced thin
2 cucumbers, cut into chunks
big handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped
big handful of fresh parsley, chopped
basket of cherry tomatoes (they are the only ones that are sweet this time of year), halved
2 tbsp cider vinegar (at the end)
kosher salt & pepper

Dressing:

1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 clove garlic, crushed
juice from ½ lemon
4 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp milk

Mix up the dressing w/ a fork, and thin with some milk if it is too thick for your liking. Set aside.

In a large wooden bowl, mix all the vegetables w/ the fresh herbs and toasted pita chips (cut the chips in pieces, or they will be too big to pick up a fork).

Season w/ kosher salt & pepper and just before serving, douse w/ the cider vinegar and drizzle dressing on the salad, I had a lot of yogurt dressing leftover......so make the salad again tomorrow!

Now for the salmon adapted from Mark Bittman's recipe.

2 lb. piece of salmon (will serve 4 people)
1/2 stick butter
fresh thyme leaves
kosher salt & pepper

Season the salmon filet w/ kosher salt & pepper.

Preheat oven to 450F and place the butter on a commercial baking sheet. Heat the butter, about 3 minutes, until bubbling....keep an eye on it, so it doesn't burn.

Carefully remove the tray w/ butter and lay the salmon, skin side down on the tray. Scatter the thyme leaves on and around the fish (I added olives in the photos, don't bother, they burned).

Roast the fish for 8-10 minutes without disturbing.

Mine was done to my liking after 9 minutes. Spoon some of the yummy butter on top and serve w/ the fattoush salad.

Such a lovely meal. :)