Fattoush

Fattoush is a Levantine salad of chopped vegetables and toasted pita, tossed in a sumac-sharp lemon dressing. It's built, quite literally, around using up yesterday's bread — the name comes from an Arabic root meaning "crumbs" or "scraps."

What it actually is

Stale pita bread is torn or cut and toasted or baked until crisp, then broken into pieces. It's tossed with chopped tomato, cucumber, radish, spring onion and plenty of fresh herbs, and dressed with lemon juice, olive oil and a generous amount of tangy, purple-red sumac — the ingredient that gives the salad its distinctive sourness and colour.

The pita is added last, right before serving, and never left to sit in the dressing; a fattoush made ahead turns the whole point of the dish — crisp bread against fresh vegetables — into a soggy mess.

How it's served

• Freshly tossed, bread added at the very last moment.
• As a starter, alongside hummus, baba ganoush and other mezze.
• With extra sumac sprinkled over the top for colour and a stronger sour note.

Writing it on a menu

• Flag the gluten in the pita; it's the one common allergen in an otherwise naturally vegan salad.
• Say if you use fried pita instead of toasted; it's a richer, crunchier version and worth naming as such.
• Mention it's naturally vegan, a strong option to highlight next to heavier mezze on the same menu.
• Note that it's best ordered to share immediately; it doesn't hold as a make-ahead item the way tabbouleh does.