Equal Parts

The first cookbook I ever purchased was called Classic Lebanese Cuisine, and I quickly thereafter threw a “fancy” dinner party for my friends in Chicago. Fancy only in the sense that I cooked a multicourse meal by myself; there was certainly not any crystal, or napkin rings, or even a dining table and chairs. People served themselves from the countertop, and then we sat in a circle on the beige industrial carpeting of my studio apartment and lingered for hours with red wine and our stupid jokes. I served pita bread and garlic sauce, fattoush salad, couscous with chickpeas, some sort of marinated chicken, and cherry tomatoes stuffed with tabbouleh.

It was my fourth year in Chicago and while I loved my friends (see above re: lingered for hours with red wine and our stupid jokes), I really missed home. So I cooked my friends a meal that reminded me of home, Dearborn, Michigan, also home to the largest Lebanese American population in the United States, where excellent hummus and shawarma and falafel and kafta and mujadra and baba ganoush were carryout staples on my family’s dining table. Growing up my favorite order from our local spot La Shish was always fattoush, the chopped salad of lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers, lots of parsley, the crispiest pita chips, and a garlicky, acidic vinaigrette slightly tinted purple thanks to the abundant inclusion of sumac, a lemony-sweet spice common in many Middle Eastern cuisines. The version I served at my party was imitation at best: bagged greens mixed with an off-the-shelf garlic dressing and under-toasted pita chips. Not that it mattered; I had my friends; we had our wine.

I moved back to Michigan and perfect fattoush salads nearly a decade ago, and since then I’ve come to enjoy a simpler version of this classic even more. At Le George, our local date-night spot for French-Lebanese cuisine, where we know George and George knows us, the starter salad is just iceberg lettuce with sumac dressing. That’s it. Iceberg can only contribute so much, basically just crunch, so the flavor is really all about the dressing. It’s simple yet tart and bright, and an absolutely perfect opening act to my dinner headliner (usually a plate of chicken shawarma with hummus).

I never really tried that hard to make sumac dressing at home, and it turns out that with a lot of lemon juice and sumac I don’t have to. It’s the easiest dressing I regularly make. I recently toyed with the idea of tabbouleh salad, which is made with bulgur and a lot of parsley, by flipping the herb to grain ratio. I added feta and chickpeas, then tossed it all with a healthy pour of sumac dressing, and it’s already becoming a work lunch staple. When this salad is on my agenda I always make sure to also buy a head of iceberg to showcase my leftover dressing.

SUMAC DRESSING

You’ll need:
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp sumac
1 tsp salt

Whisk all ingredients together until combined. Alternatively, add all ingredients to a mason jar, screw on the lid, then shake to combine.

PERFECT FLUFFY BULGUR

You’ll need:
1 cup bulgur
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt

Bring everything to a boil in a medium saucepan, then cover and reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. Strain out any excess water. To do so, I like to use a wire mesh scoop to remove the bulger from the pan, then gently shake it to help rid it of excess water, then pour into a bowl, repeating as necessary.

BULGUR SALAD WITH HERBS & SUMAC DRESSING

You’ll need:
Sumac Dressing (recipe above)
1 cup bulgur
1 lg cucumber
1 can of chickpeas, rinsed
1/4 cup feta
1/2 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 cup mint, chopped

Cook the bulgur as described above. Let sit in a large bowl to cool for at least 20 minutes (the longer the better), so that the bulger does not turn to mush when mixed with the rest of the salad ingredients. (I find a cool grain keeps its ideal shape and texture better than a warm grain.)

Meanwhile, peel, seed, and chop the cucumber. Sprinkle a little salt over the chopped pile of cucumbers (as I believe cucumbers, like tomatoes, need a little bit of salt to taste most like themselves).

To the cooled bulgur, add about half of the sumac dressing, and gently stir to combine. Lightly pat the cucumbers with a paper towel to dry, then add them to the bowl along with the chickpeas, and gently stir to combine. Add the feta and herbs, and gently stir to combine. (Adding ingredients slowly like this allows for gentler mixing and more even distribution.) Taste, then add more dressing, salt, or herbs if needed.

If you hold this salad for a day or two, you will likely need to add more dressing, as the bulgur absorbs much of it when it sits.