The fattoush salad has always been one of my favorite salads. It is a lettuce-less salad and has bread in it -- what's not to like! But fattoush salads are the kind of dish where everyone's grandmother makes it differently. This recipe is the closest I've found to my ideal fattoush salad.

Ingredients

1 whole wheat pita bread
[roughly equal parts cucumber, tomato, red pepper + half-part onion]
1 large English cucumber OR 2 small Persian cucumbers, diced

½ pound ground lamb, preferably shoulder
¼ medium onion, very finely chopped
¼ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup crumbled feta
1 tsp ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
pinch ground cinnamon
½ teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp cup olive oil, plus more for grilling

2-4 thick medium pita breads with pockets

Using a fork, mix lamb, feta, onion, parsley, coriander, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and oil in a large bowl. Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

This recipe is courtesy of our friends Sarah and Jason. They gave us a wonderful wedding gift set of a deep dish pizza pan, italian spices, and a great cookbook. Helpfully, they included this recipe as well!

Via http://www.bhg.com/blogs/delish-dish/2013/02/05/dorie-greenspan-... , see also http://discoveringblog.com/httpdiscoveringblogcom/discoveringsmo...

ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, toasted

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, cocoa powder, smoked paprika and salt; set aside.

The Arepa is the Venezuelan staple, and their version of meat-in-bread. They're very filling, if hard to get the flour for. Online, Amigo Foods offers it (Harina P.A.N.), and often you can find it at more Latin-oriented groceries (Austin: Fiesta almost always has it. In DC, I've found it at La Casa Latina on Georgia near Piney Branch and at Caribbean Market II on New Hampshire near Takoma Park)