Shepherd Salad (Levant)

Chopped salad of finely diced tomato and cucumber. Usually made of tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and parsley and dressed with fresh lemon juice, olive oil and black pepper. Generally, the cucumbers are not peeled. The key is using very fresh vegetables and chopping them as finely as possible. In Arab cuisine salads are often served as a first course. A variety of salads are brought to the table on small plates, as in mezze. Pita and other flat breads are commonly served alongside salads..

2 cucumbers, peeled, deseeded and sliced
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 small shallots or onions, thinly sliced
¼ cup fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

Dressing:
2 lemons, freshly squeezed
equal amount of extra virgin olive oil
black pepper, freshly ground

To Serve:
pita bread

Make the dressing by whisking together the lemon juice and olive oil, add the pepper to taste.

Put all the salad ingredients in bowl and then toss gently with the dressing.

Refrigerate until ready to use. Serve with pita bread.

Makes 4 servings.