Shaker / Burke Lebanese Salad Recipe # by James P. Burke
Jul 24, 2015
Shaker / Burke Lebanese Salad Recipe Ingredients • 4-6 cloves of garlic, peeled (more is better) • 1/2 Tbsp salt • 1 large (2 lb) bag of salad (chopped romaine is ideal, but any greens will do) • 1 cucumber (peeled, halved longitudinally, and sliced) • tomatoes (approx. 2 hands full of grape tomatoes, or the equivalent in regular tomatoes, diced) • garden mint (minced; the equivalent of 4 stalks of mint – just the leaves. You can use dried in a pinch. Err on the side of more mint if it is available to you) • lemon juice (1/3 to 1/2 cup estimated) • olive oil (1/3 to 1/2 cup estimated)
Instructions 1. In a large metal salad bowl place the garlic cloves. Cover with the salt. Use some flat-bottomed object to grind the garlic and salt into a paste. 2. Add the chopped lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, mint, lemon juice, and oil. Do not toss until ready to serve. 3. When you toss this, use two large spoons and take care to scrape the garlic and salt off the bottom of the bowl to incorporate it into the entire salad. 4. When mixed, adjust salt, lemon, and oil to your taste.
Notes • Measurements are estimates (I generally go by feel) so it’s not bad to under-estimate the salt, oil, and lemon juice and adjust them afterward. No need to hold back on the mint and garlic at all. • The addition of spinach for half the salad is a nice variation. • Sliced bell peppers go well. • To make something like the Lebanese salad Fattoush, toast pita or Syrian bread on the stove or in the oven until stiff, then break it apart into chips and use them like croutons in this salad, adding them just before tossing.
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