Roasted red pepper fattoush recipe

By Debbie Major

Serves 4-6 as a starter or lunch
Takes 40 minutes to make and 35 minutes to cook
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This salad comes from the Middle East, where they would use a couple of Turkish marmara green peppers and a crunchy Lebanese cucumber. This is the UK farm-shop version.

Ingredients

2 large red peppers
3 pitta breads (white or wholemeal)
6 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, skinned
½ cucumber, peeled, deseeded and sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced
25g fresh flatleaf parsley leaves, roughly chopped
100g feta, crumbled

For the dressing

2 garlic cloves
½ tsp coarse sea salt
Juices from the 6 tomatoes (above)
2 tbsp lemon juice
5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1½ tsp sumac (a Middle Eastern spice; optional)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/fan200°C/gas 7. Put the red peppers on a baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes, turning occasionally, until lightly charred. Seal in a plastic bag and cool, then break open, discard the stalks and seeds, remove the skin and tear into strips.
2. Split open the pitta breads, place on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool, then break into pieces. Quarter the tomatoes and scoop the seeds and juice into a sieve set over a small bowl. Rub with a wooden spoon to release the juice, discard the seeds and cut the flesh into wedges.
3. For the dressing, put the garlic on a board, sprinkle with the sea salt and crush into a paste with the blade of a large knife. Add to the tomato juices with the lemon juice, olive oil, sumac (if using) and some black pepper.
4. When ready to serve, place the red peppers, pitta and tomato wedges in a large bowl with the other salad ingredients and the dressing, and toss together well. Set aside for 5 minutes to allow the bread to soften very slightly before serving.