**Recipe featured on Cooking Channel website – Finalist for Perfect 5 Recipe Contest.**
Considering the theme of The Lemon Bowl, it is probably no surprise that my favorite and most common salad contains all of my favorite ingredients: lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. This is, of course, the basis of a Syrian (or Lebanese) salad.
I grew up shadowing my Great Aunt Vieve as she would prepare this delicious, fresh and addictive salad. Dressing the salad directly on the greens, I sat in awe as she seasoned, tasted and adjusted. No measuring, no teaspoons, just instinct. Utensils were no where in sight. Instead, she would simply use her hands (your greatest tool in the kitchen) to gently toss the salad, being careful not to bruise the lettuce and herbs.
Although I have no proof, I am a firm believer that my Great Aunt Vieve lived a long and healthy life due to the daily consumption of raw garlic. (Cooked whole garlic has very little, if any, medicinal benefits.) Not to brag, but I may or may not have written a research paper about the health benefits of garlic for my International Cuisine elective at Boston University. Shocker.
A typical Syrian salad is very simple: romaine, cucumber and tomato. My husband doesn’t eat cucumbers or tomatoes so our typical salad will also include red peppers and radishes. This week at the Farmer’s Market I bought the white, spicy radishes but you could add anything you wish – carrots, celery, yellow peppers, red leaf, you name it. Heck, this dressing would be delicious on roasted cauliflower. Whatever you do, don’t forget the raw garlic.- 6 c romaine - chopped
- 1 large tomato - chopped
- 4 white radishes - thinly sliced
- 1 red pepper - diced
- 1 peeled cucumber - chopped
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- ¼ cup chopped mint or 2 tablespoons dried mint
- Juice of one lemon
- 2 garlic cloves - grated/crushed
- 4 tsp olive oil
- 2 tablespoons za'atar (optional)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Place your salad ingredients of choice in a large bowl.
- Add fresh herbs.
- Squeeze juice of one lemon around the bowl, carefully holding your opposite hand underneath to catch the seeds.
- Grate garlic directly over the salad using a microplane.
- Drizzle olive oil around the edge of the salad (this will help ensure the salad is dressed evenly as you toss.)
- Using, hands, gently toss the salad together. Sprinkle with zaatar, salt and pepper to taste.
What great timing that this was just reposted! I am in charge of an annual banquet at church that features food from around the world and this fit perfectly with the theme. I have a garden full of fresh mint to use and over 70 people enjoyed this salad last night with almost none left over. Thanks for such a delicious and healthy recipe.
Oh wow that is so wonderful! I’m so glad your church enjoyed this salad! We make it almost every night for dinner. 🙂 I hope you get to try other recipes of mine!
Thank you for this recipe! It was very interesting to try. My five year old asked for more. The raw garlic had a bite- I never thought Id say this, but next time I’d use a little less. I didn’t think the mint added enough to the salad to justify its expense (we’re on a tight budget tho). My spice shop had the spice spelled Zahtar for some reason and again I was interested to try it but not sure this is the fattoush flavor profile I’ve enjoyed in the many Mediterranean restaurants here (we have a large Lebanese population here). I’ll keep looking for another fattoush recipe. So glad tho to have learned about grating garlic- never tried that!
Erin I totally understand about the fresh mint… we only use it in the summer when it’s growing like a weed in our backyard. Dried mint works really well during the non-growing season! As for the garlic- did you grate it with a microplane? If you do it that way it literally will melt into the vinaigrette. Just a few tips as raw garlic is super healthy. As for za’atar, it varies quite a bit brand to brand so keep experimenting! This is my favorite brand: http://amzn.to/1Rg5ca8
We had this for dinner tonight. I added some roasted chickpeas to mine, and served with toasted whole wheat pitas for a great vegetarian dinner. Thank you!
That sounds incredible – so glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve been craving this salad ever since I had it back in March and finally bought all the ingredients to make it this week!
Ahhh!! Yay!!! I hope you love it!
Can I do this without oil?
You could but it won’t taste as good. 🙂
I can not wait to get my hands on some za’atar! I love raw garlic on my salads with lemon & olive oil just like this!! So fresh & perfect!!
I have made this 3 times and it is good..but not like my grandmothers? It looks just like hers..but the lemon and garlic is just a little too bitter? My grandmother came over from Lebanon when she was 50 and she did not speak English or change her recipes to North American standards. She made pita bread that was sooo good and use egg whites.
Oh wow Steve that’s incredible! I wonder if she used garlic powder instead of fresh or perhaps citric acid instead of fresh lemon juice?