Рецепт Grilled Fattoush Salad | #ProgressiveEats

by Susan Pridmore

Grilled fattoush salad with grilled peppers and zucchini, tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, and chickpeas dressed in buttermilk-yogurt dressing. I attended  The Yoga Expo this past weekend in Santa Clara. It’s a big yoga and meditation day traveling around the country, with a stop scheduled for Vancouver, BC as well. There are also exhibitors for everything from crystals to homeopathy and juices in a pill form. If you decide to go to one of them, and I do recommend it, here’s my take on the day. What I liked: There was a wide variety of options for yoga, meditation, and chanting, many of which I’d never heard of – and I’ve done yoga and meditation for decades. It was a great opportunity to try something completely new with little risk. If I didn’t like a particular class, I could assumably roll up my mat and go to another class next door, or down the hall. The price is right. For $35, you can fit in 6 sessions during the day, if you skip lunch. That’s hard to beat. Each session lasted 50 minutes, with a 20 minute break between sessions. If you bring your own lunch, you can snack in-between sessions. The 20-minute breaks provide ample time for using restrooms, figuring out what class you want to try next, or grabbing some water. The staff was very responsive to cooling down rooms when they became uncomfortably warm. The teachers are very experienced, and all had flyers on their classes, workshops, and retreats. There was a great deal of interest in these materials at the end of each session. What I didn’t like: There were no descriptions provided for the classes other than the class title. This made it difficult to determine which sessions I wanted to try. For example, one was titled: Nervous System Overhaul. Several of us thought it meant the class would be focused on calming the mind and body. It turns out it was Kundalini Yoga. For the uninitiated, this is a very fast and challenging form of yoga involving, among other things, breathing techniques that will completely exhaust your abs. This assumes, of course, that you have any strength remaining at that point of the practice. Which I did not. What I learned: I need to get in better shape, and I need to lose a little more weight. This is where the Grilled Fattoush Salad comes in. Grilled Fattoush?? Just as panzanella is Italy’s bread salad, fattoush is a bread salad originating in the Palestine-Lebanon area of the world. It’s typically made with toasted or stale pita bread torn in pieces, and tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes and often some greens. I twisted it around a bit, grilling up baby bell peppers, thick slabs of zucchini that I later cut into cubes, and big rounds of na’an in place of the pita. And because I have a love affair with chickpeas, I sautéed a couple handfuls of the beans with a healthy sprinkle of spices. It all came together beautifully for a perfect summer vegetarian dinner. 5.0 from 3 reviews Grilled Fattoush Salad | #ProgressiveEats   Print Prep time Cook time Total time   Author: Susan Pridmore Recipe type: Salad Serves: 4 - 6 Ingredients Fattoush 10 baby bell peppers, stemmed and halved - (you'll have 1 cup peppers when grilled) 4 zucchini cut along their lengths into ½-inch slabs - (you'll have 3 cups when cubed after grilling) 2 large rounds of na'an bread (or make your own) 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1 cup cooked chickpeas pinch salt ½ teaspoon ground cumin 1 English cucumber, diced (about 1½ cups) 1 cup halved tomatoes ⅓ cup halved green and kalamata olives 2 green onions, thinly sliced ¼ cup coarsely chopped mint, packed ¼ cup coarsely chopped Italian parsley, packed ½ cup crumbled feta Buttermilk Dressing 1 cup buttermilk ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt 2 teaspoons minced garlic (or Gourmet Gardens Garlic Paste) 1 teaspoon dried mint ¼ cup lemon juice ½ teaspoon kosher salt ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil Instructions Fattoush Oil the grate on your grill, and fire up the grill on high. Close the lid and heat for about 5 minutes, until grate is very hot. Lightly baste the peppers, zucchini, and na'an bread with about 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Grilling in batches, arrange the vegetables on the grill over direct heat and grill for 4 - 5 minutes per side. The peppers should be limp, and the zucchini softened. Slice each pepper half in half again, across their lengths. Dice the zucchini into ¾-inch cubes. Grill the na'an until slightly crisped, about 3 - 4 minutes per side. Tear into medium-sized shards. Heat up the remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a small skillet and add the chickpeas, salt, and cumin. Sauté until crispy, about 7 minutes. Combine the grilled vegetables, bread, chickpeas, and all of the remaining Fattoush ingredients in a large bowl, and lightly toss. Mix the the Buttermilk Dressing (below) just before serving. Buttermilk Dressing Mix together all of the ingredients in a small bowl, except the olive oil. Gradually whisk in the olive oil. 3.5.3208   Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a Progressive Dinner Party. This month we’re featuring It’s Grilling Time! hosted by my good friend and fellow-blogger Jane Bonacci, the author of The Heritage Cook. Today we are sharing recipes that are prepared on a barbecue or grill. Savory and sweet, you can cook your entire meal outside keeping your kitchen cool and perfect for hot summer evenings. We know you’ll enjoy the kiss of smoke in every bite! If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats, a theme is chosen each month, members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party, and you can hop from blog to blog to check them out. (As a side note, Jane’s first cookbook, The Gluten-Free Bread Machine Cookbook, is coming out this fall packed with 175 recipes she and her co-author Shannon Kinsella created. A link to preorder this wonderful cookbook is in the right column under Cookbooks I Recommend.) Main Course Succulent Grilled Prime Rib (Gluten-Free) from The Heritage Cook Grilled Flank Steak and Asparagus with Béarnaise Butterfrom Creative Culinary Grilled Brazilian Rub Salmonfrom Jeanette’s Healthy Living Vegetables/Side Dishes Grilled Fattoush Salad with Chickpeas-Sweet Peppers Naanfrom The Wimpy Vegetarian Grilled Belgian Endive from Mother Would Know Desserts Buttermilk Panna cotta with Grilled Mango Sorbetfrom Spice Roots Grilled Buttermilk Pound Cake with Peaches and Mascarponefrom The Red Head Baker Grilled Peach Melba from That Skinny Chick Can Bake Smoked Caramel Pineapple Ice Cream (No Churn)from Pastry Chef Online We have a core group of 12 bloggers, but we will always need substitutes and if there is enough interest would consider additional groups. To see our upcoming themes and how you can participate, please check out the schedule at Creative Culinary or contact Barb for more information. Related