Circle B Kitchen
Adapted from “Jerusalem” by Yotam Ottolenghi
This is one of the tastiest, most flavorful salads we’ve had in a long time. There’s a bit of everything in here…sweet, salty, sour, crunchy and chewy, and it all comes together in perfect balance. The recipe calls for sumac, which I didn’t have on hand, so substituted zatar seasoning, which is most made from sumac. It was delicious! The other substitution I made was not having any pita bread in the house, I substituted pita chips, and they worked great. Enjoy!
Note: If using pita chips instead of pita bread, I browned the almonds first before adding the pita chips to the pan.
Serves 4-6
1 tablespoon wine vinegar
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 1/2 ounces Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
Salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 small pitas, roughly torn into 1 1/2 -inch pieces (Or several handfuls of pita chips, slightly crushed)
1/2 cup whole unsalted almonds, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons sumac (or Z'atar seasoning)
1/2 teaspoon chile flakes
5 to 6 ounces baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Put vinegar, onion and dates in a small bowl. Add a pinch of salt and mix well with your hands. Leave to marinate for 20 minutes, then drain any residual vinegar and discard.
Meanwhile, heat butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Add pita and cook for 4 to 6 minutes, stirring all the time, until pita is golden. Add almonds and continue cooking until pita is crunchy and browned and almonds are toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat and mix in sumac, chile flakes and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside to cool.
When ready to serve, toss spinach leaves with pita mix in a large mixing bowl. Add dates and red onion, remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, the lemon juice and another pinch of salt. Taste for seasoning and serve immediately.