Guest Post : Katherine Martinelli featuring Fattoush

Israelis are diehard salad eaters, even with breakfast, and fattoush is one of my favorites. Recipes vary based on what is fresh and available, but at its essence it is a salad of chopped vegetables (most commonly tomatoes and cucumbers), fresh herbs, toasted pita bread, a sour spice called sumac, and a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.

Every Mondays and Fridays of June and July we will be featuring some my favourite food bloggers for the first time here at Ang Sarap. These bloggers are exceptional and served as a big influence of what is Ang Sarap now, so please do visit and follow everyone of them (if you haven’t yet) and I will assure you that you won’t be disappointed.

Today we will be featuring a New Yorker living in Israel, Katherine Martinelli.

Katherine Martinelli the blogger behind the self-named website KatherineMartinelli.com

She is a an internationally published food and travel writer and photographer who contributes regularly to publications on three continents and her website is a good place to see all of her amazing work from her portfolio to all of her featured publications. She recently published an eBook called Puff Pastry at Brunch as well as an Apple App she wrote for Rama Food Tours called Tasting Mahane Yehuda a self-guided food tour on her favourite places in Israel.

I think my words are not enough to introduce her so I suggest go to her site now and start drooling but before that let us all welcome Katherine with her guest post.

Hi, I’m Katherine Martinelli and I blog over at KatherineMartinelli.com! I am a food and travel writer and photographer who freelances for publications around the world. I am a native New Yorker, but have spent the past two years living in Israel – a country I had never been to before moving here! My background is Italian and Hungarian, but I love food from around the world and a lot of my recipes have an international flare.

I love how blogging brings us together, introducing me not only to amazing recipes and cuisines, but to interesting people from around the world. Raymund and I met through a blogging group, World on a Plate, where we each share recipes from our native countries each month. I immediately fell in love with Ang Sarap for its gorgeous photos and inspiring global recipes. Needless to say, I was thrilled when Raymund asked me to guest post.

Although he suggested making something representative of where I’m from, I’ve opted instead for a recipe from my current home. Living in Israel I have spent the last two years being introduced to new flavors, ingredients, and dishes and it was love at first bite. Israelis are diehard salad eaters, even with breakfast, and fattoush is one of my favorites.

Recipes vary based on what is fresh and available, but at its essence it is a salad of chopped vegetables (most commonly tomatoes and cucumbers), fresh herbs, toasted pita bread, a sour spice called sumac, and a simple dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. It’s a brilliant use for stale pita, and with the best ingredients this salad is far greater than the sum of its parts. Part of its beauty is its simplicity, but even so you don’t expect to be wowed with your first bite. But you will be. The flavors just pop.

This makes a perfect lunch, wonderful light supper, and excellent side salad. You could add grilled chicken to make it a more substantial meal, although I honestly prefer the purer, vegetarian version. If you don’t have sumac don’t stress, it will be great without it.

Fattoush

★★★★★ 5 from 14 reviews

• Author: Katherine Martinelli
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 25 mins
• Yield: 4-6 1x

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Ingredients

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• 2 pita, sliced down the middle through the pocket
• ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 20 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 cucumbers, sliced into half moons
• ½ red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped mint
• 1/3 cup chopped parsley
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro/coriander
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• Salt and pepper
• Sumac

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Drizzle the pita with the 1 tablespoon olive oil and put in the oven to toast until crispy, about 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, put the tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, mint, parsley, coriander, and garlic in a large salad bowl.
4. Add the lemon juice and remaining ¼ cup olive oil and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Break up the toasted pita into pieces and scatter on top of the salad.

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Notes

Adapted from The Book of New Israeli Food: A Culinary Journey by Janna Gur