**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
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup chopped mint or 2 tablespoons dried mint
- 1 Juice of lemon
- 2 cloves garlic grated/crushed
- 4 tsp olive oil
- 2 tablespoons za'atar optional
- salt and pepper to taste
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Place your salad ingredients of choice in a large bowl.
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Add fresh herbs.
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Squeeze juice of one lemon around the bowl, carefully holding your opposite hand underneath to catch the seeds.
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Grate garlic directly over the salad using a microplane.
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Drizzle olive oil around the edge of the salad (this will help ensure the salad is dressed evenly as you toss.)
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Using, hands, gently toss the salad together. Sprinkle with zaatar, salt and pepper to taste.
(Excellent source of mono-unsaturated fatty acid, Vitamin C and Vitamin A.)
FJAne
Thank you for this healthy and green salad inspiration As I follow a largely plant food based diet, I am constantly looking out for fresh flavors and salad variations. I’ll pair this with a bean or lentil soup to make a quick lunch or dinner recipe. Garlic flakes work well for those who don’t like raw garlic.
For readers like @Erin, you can try shopping for pure zaatar or zero-filling zaatar. I get my blend from from https://www.eatzaatar.com. Their blends contain high-grade sumac, sesame seeds and wild thyme also known as Syrian oregano. This multi-flavored herb has more essential oil content which adds a rich taste to your dish.
Liz DellaCroce
Thank you for your kind comment! I hope you love the salad!
FJane
I packed this salad for lunch this week and my bestie at work loved it so much that I shared the recipe with her. I hope you don’t mind.
Liz DellaCroce
That makes me so happy!!!! Thanks for sharing!
r.a.
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.
Liz DellaCroce
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!
Erin
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!
Liz DellaCroce
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
vivian
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!
Liz DellaCroce
That sounds incredible – so glad you enjoyed it!
Phi @ The Sweetphi Blog
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!
Liz DellaCroce
Ahhh!! Yay!!! I hope you love it!
Noel
Can I do this without oil?
Liz DellaCroce
You could but it won’t taste as good. :)
Aggie
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!!
steve
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.
Liz DellaCroce
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?