Eggplant Fattoush Salad

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eggplant, eggplant salad, fattoush, middle eastern fattoush salad, Salad

What to do with your eggplants before it passed away and ended in trash bag?

I had some eggplants that was sitting in the fridge for long time, since lately I did’t have time to make anything. Being an eggplant lover, don’t like to waist any bit of it.
This eggplant salad is a twist on the classic fattoush salad.
Fattoush is a Middle Eastern take on panzanella, Italian bread salad.
My favorite, nutty, garlicy, fresh, and tangy taste, all together along with the crunchy fried pita bread.
Toasting the pita adds crunch to this bright-tasting salad, and a drizzle of olive oil, pomegranate molasses and a sprinkle of ground sumac-the berry of a bush that grows wild all over Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine-add depth. Letting the salad sit for a bit before eating allows the pita to soak up the lemony dressing.
You can make the salad up to 4 hours ahead; cover and chill. Serve as an appetizer. In fact, you can serve it also with toasted baguette slices or any rustic Italian bread, it is a good alternative to the pita in this salad.

1 large eggplant, cubes cutted
1 avocado, cubes cutted
1\2 cup thinly sliced green bell pepper
1\4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 large tomatato, cut in quarter then thinly sliced
1\2 cup shreded lettuce leaves
2-3 heads of horseradishes thinly sliced
1\2 cup roughly chopped italian flat leaves parsley
1\4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon sumac
1 loaf of pita bread
sunflower oil for frying

Sprinkle some salt on the eggplant cubes, toss all together, let sit a side for 10 minutes; this will help the eggplant not to soak too much oil while frying.
Begin with pita bread, cut the bread into cubes, heat the oil, deep fry the pita, keep stirring and turning on the other side, until golden brown, be careful and watch it carefully because it will be ready in a bout 1 minute. Let sit on clean towel or kitchen papers.

Fry the eggplant, make sure the heat not too low (this will make eggplant soak too much oil), not too high ( it will burn the eggplant quickly).
Toss carfully all the ingrediant of the salad together; the fryed eggplant, the avocado cubes, the sliced pepper, onion, tomato, horseradish, lettuce, parsley, and mint.
In a small bowl, add the pomegranate molasses, the olive oil, the lemon juice, salt, and groung black pepper. Add it to the salad with the sumac, toss the salad, sprinkle some more sumac on the top.
Serve with pita chips.

You can serve it immediately so you will enjoy the crunchy pita bread, or let it set a couple of hours in the fridge, this will let the bread soaked in the lemon pomegranate dressing.

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Daring Cook Challenge: Potato Salad

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avocado, avocado potato salad, cauiliflower, daring kitchen challenge, eggplant, lentil, lentil potato salad, pomegranate molasses, potato salad, Salad, sweet potato, sweet potato salad, sweet red bell pepper, yogurt dressingroasted vegetable salad

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

Here is some potato salads recipes I usually make:

Sweet and White Potato Salad with Pomegranate Dressing

This salad is gorgeous, it combine between the sweet and the sour, when using the sweet potato and the white, then the pomegranate with its sweet and sour flavor along with the arugula, very very delicious.

1 sweet potato
2 medium white potato
arugula
sweet red bell pepper
green onion
pecan
for the dressing
1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper

Boil the potato with the skins on until tender and cooked, peel the skin and cut the potato into small cubes and let it cool, cut the pepper into 1\2 inch dices, slice the green onion thinly, add the arugula and pecan.
To make the dressing, add all the ingredient in a bowl and whisk until incorporated, add to the salad and mix all together.

Avocado Potato Salad

It’s really great as a refreshing light lunch as will as a very good choice to serve at gathering along with pita chips.

2 medium White potato boiled, peeled, and medium diced
1 avocado cut into medium dices
2 small roma tomato medium diced
1 small cucumber medium diced
3 tablespoon parsley chopped
some mint leaves chopped
2 tablespoon onion small diced
2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

Mix the potato, avocado, tomato, cucumber, parsley and the onion all together in deep dish. Add the lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper, mix and server in small dish.

For the pita chips slice the pita bread into triangles drezzel with olive oil and sprinke a dash of salt, spread the triangle on a baking sheet and put it in the oven at 300 f for 10 -15 min.

Oven Roasted Potato veggies salad with yogurt dressing

this salad is a twist on a famous mediterranean fried veggie layered salad, so instead of frying the veggies why not to grill it in the oven as I did or on the grill. the sauce from yogurt and taini gives it that creamy sour fresh tangy taste.

red potato peeled and cut into wedges
paprika for seasoning
eggplant cut into large cubes
cauliflower cut into large floret
frozen sweet corn
chopped parsley
toasted pine nuts
salt and pepper
olive oil for roasting the veggie
for the dressing
1\2 cup greek yogurt
3 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Heat the oven at 350 f, on a sheet pan season the potato with salt, pepper, paprika, add olive oil to coat completely, mix all together, layer the potato into the pan and put it in the oven for 20 – 25 min. until cooked and soft inside (you can check it with the fork).
layer the eggplant and cauliflower after coating with salt and pepper and drizzle some olive oil to coat completely and put it in the oven at 350 f for 15 -20 min.
in a pan put some olive oil add the corn and sauté for 5 min.
To make the dressing mix the yogurt the tahini and the lemon juice.
On the serving dish layer the potato the eggplant then the cauliflower the corn add another layer of each, top it with the yogurt sauce, pine nuts and chopped parsley.

Lentil Potato Salad

potato boiled peeled and diced to medium cubes
lentil cooked to tender
parley chopped
sweet red bell pepper
2 tablespoon onion diced fine
cumin, dried coriander,salt and pepper
2 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoon olive oil
some romaine lettuce for serving

mix all ingredient together spoon it into the letuce cups and serve.