Roast Tomato & Pitta Salad with Tahini

I’d call this the love child between a Levantine fattoush and an Italian panzanella. It’s got all the crunch and herby freshness of fattoush, but leans heavily on the delicious bread-soaked-in-tomato-juices union we know and love from the classic Italian bread salad. It also involves combining the zingy taste of raw tomatoes with the deep sweet flavours of roast tomatoes, which is a fun thing to do if you have a few extra tomatoes on your hands.

It also takes the most important element from fattoush and panzanella, which is heft. This plate of food is not some light, grazing leaf salad. It means business. Perfect for when you want something substantial, though it’ll also sit happily alongside a piece of chicken, lamb or fish, lending its delicious tahini sauce and roast tomato juices to whatever you put next to it. It’s also a great picnic or lunchbox salad.

ingredients

serves 4

• 3 small pitta bread, split in half

• 5 tbsp olive oil

• 1 tbsp sumac, plus extra to serve

• 800g  tomatoes, mix of sizes and colours, roughly chopped

• ½ cucumber, deseeded and cut into chunks 

• A large handful each of basil, parsley and mint leaves, left whole
  Tahini sauce

• 75g tahini

• Juice of 1/2 lemon

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 3-4 tbsp water
  

instructions

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/Gas 6. Divide the tomatoes in half; some will be cooked, the other half used raw later. For the cooking ones, cut the larger ones into big chunks. Prick the smaller ones with a sharp knife. Pour over 3 tablespoons of oil and some seasoning and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes until soft and sweet. 

Next, split the pitta bread, lay out on a baking tray and drizzle over 2 tablespoons of oil. Scatter over the tablespoon of sumac and a little salt, then place in the oven for the final 15 minutes of tomato cooking until crisp and golden. Leave the pitta to cool and harden up, and keep the tomatoes warm.

While everything’s in the oven, cut the remaining tomatoes into chunks and place in a big salad bowl with the cucumber and the herbs.

Make the tahini sauce next by whisking tahini, lemon, oil and some salt together, then slowly whisk in the water. It may look a  bit splitty but keep whisking and you’ll get to smooth. Add a dash more water until you arrive at double cream consistency. 

Once everything is out the oven, break the pitta into your salad bowl, season the salad, then toss together and transfer to plates. Divide the roast tomatoes and their juices between plates, then drizzle over the tahini sauce. Finish with a sprinkling of sumac, then serve.