Pomegranate Fattoush Salad

Odysea, Georgina Hayden and The White Company
Pomegranate Fattoush recipe from Nistisima by Georgina Hayden

“As a kid, I could never understand why the adults in my family would fight over the salad bowl, dunking their bread into the juices at the bottom. I came to see the error of my ways and now know there are few things better than bread saturated in a tangy, punchy salad dressing. Fattoush is one of my favourite salads. It’s the perfect vehicle for slightly stale pitta bread (the Arabic word ‘fatteh’ means ‘crumbs’), given a new lease of life in crunchy, peppery, sweet salad. I’ve ramped up the tart and sweet elements with pomegranate and I think it works like a dream.” Georgina Hayden

Reprinted with permission from Nistisima by Georgina Hayden, Bloomsbury Publishing 2022.

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Ingredients

2 pita breads or flatbreads
extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 lemon
1 garlic clove
½ pomegranate
1 small or ½ large cucumber
6 spring onions
6 radishes
1 cos lettuce, or 2 little gem lettuces
500g ripe, mixed-coloured tomatoes
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp sumac

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°/fan 160°C/gas 4. Open out the pitta or flatbreads like a book and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle over the oregano and season a little with salt and pepper. Place in the oven for 15–20 minutes, until lightly golden and crisp. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then break them up.

2. To make the dressing, whisk or shake together two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, the pomegranate molasses and the juice of the lemon. Peel the garlic clove and crush with the side of your knife and add it to the dressing. Season generously, whisk together and leave to one side. Pick the pomegranate seeds and keep to one side.

3. Trim and chop the cucumbers (if you are using a large cucumber, halve it lengthways and scoop out the middle). Trim and finely slice the spring onions and radishes, then roughly chop the lettuce and tomatoes. Pick the parsley leaves and finely chop. Toss everything together with the dressing (discarding the garlic) and spread out onto a platter. Scatter over the toasted bread and pomegranate seeds and sprinkle over the sumac before serving.