Whole-wheat pita fattoush with chickpeas

Ingredients

0 of 15 out on the counter

• 2 whole-wheat pitas (6½ inches), torn in bite-size pieces
• ½ cup no-salt-added chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• juice of 2 lemons (about 6 tbsp)
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 4 cups shredded romaine (1 small head)
• 1 cucumber (8¼ inches), with the peel, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 cup thinly sliced radishes
• 3 medium scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• ¼ cup chopped fresh mint

All set! Everything is out. Time to bake.

Method

1. 1Heat the oven to 400 °F. Spread the torn pita on a baking sheet with no oil. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, stirring once, until the pieces are dry, crisp and deep gold. Cool them on the pan; they crisp more as they cool.
2. 2In a big bowl, whisk the lemon juice, zest, olive oil, garlic powder, salt and pepper.
3. 3Add the radishes, scallions, parsley and mint to the bowl and stir; the radishes pink up a little in the lemon.
4. 4Add the romaine, cucumber, tomatoes and chickpeas and fold until everything shines.
5. 5Add the cooled pita last and toss once or twice. Serve right away, while the pita still crunches, in four bowls (about 3½ cups each).
6. 6To pack for lunch, carry the pita in its own bag and stir it in at the table. Eat within 2 hours at room temperature, or within 1 hour above 90 °F; otherwise keep it cold. The dressed salad without pita keeps in the fridge (our kitchen practice; we hold no published source for it yet) and the pita goes in fresh.