Nickel & Dine
A Wallet-Friendly Way to Stretch Any Salad
Obviously you know about croutons, so why not chips?
I try not to be the kind of person who tells you a dish you’ve made is missing something. But also, that big salad you’re about to dive into definitely needs pita chips. Let’s back up: When it comes to summer dinners—whether I’m having people over or it’s just me—come dinnertime, I gravitate towards simple meals that show off summer produce. I’m talking toasts, cold noodles, dips, salads. And when I go salad, there’s only one non-negotiable part: adding chips. Pita chips, specifically.
I understand there might be skeptics about this addition, but hear me out. Obviously you know about croutons in salad. And perhaps you’re familiar with Tuscan panzanella, stale torn bread and tomatoes soaked in oil and vinegar; or fattoush, the Levantine salad of greens, vegetables, and toasted or fried flatbread—this crispy-carb-tossed-in-tangy-dressing is the vibe we’re going for. Like croutons, pita chips add a welcome crunch to salad, but their flat shape also makes them something of a scooping device, excellent for making sure every last bite of cucumber or feta gets into your mouth, not left clinging to the side of the bowl.
I’d be remiss not to mention that while produce is an important part of any salad, pita chips add heft to your meal in a way a bowl of vegetables simply cannot—if you’ve ever gone to bed hungry after eating salad for dinner, this is probably why. Since my goal with recipes is to spend less, legumes are a natural solution for bulking it up, and while I do include chickpeas in my Pita Chip Dinner Salad, a tender bean offers no exciting crunch. Toasted nuts then come to mind, but it remains a fact that nuts are wildly pricey. Case in point: chips.
Now, you can head to the store, buy a bag of pita chips, and go hog wild, but here’s a secret: Not only is making your own pita chips incredibly simple, they arguably taste better and are significantly cheaper than the packaged version. All you have to do is rip up a pita (or three, as is the case with this recipe) into bite-sized pieces, douse them in olive oil, salt, and pepper, and bake at 350ºF for about 15 minutes. Presto! (I must note that you can—and should—do the same thing with torn bread for make-your-own croutons, if you aren’t already.)
Of course, once you’ve actually done the deed, the countdown to sogginess officially begins. There is a sweet spot that bread salads occupy, where the carb has just started to absorb the dressing, but hasn’t become so leaden with liquid that it turns to mush, and that’s between 10 and 20 minutes after dressing. So be sure to wait before tossing the chips into your salad until it’s just dinnertime.
Feel free to get busy with pita chips in any salad you like (Caesar! Wedge! Niçoise!) but allow me to suggest starting with this peach and plum-based number, because no one knows how to show off like a piece of stone fruit in late August.
| 1 | cup (heaping) dry chickpeas (or two 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed) |
| Kosher salt | |
| 1/4 | cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more to taste |
| 3 | (7- or 8-inch) pitas, split in half and torn into 1-inch pieces |
| Freshly ground black pepper | |
| 1 | large shallot |
| 1 | large lemon |
| 1 | small garlic clove, grated |
| 1/2 to 1 | teaspoons ground sumac |
| 1 to 2 | teaspoons honey |
| 1/2 | bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves and all stems, chopped (about 1 cup, packed) |
| 1 | cup (packed) mint leaves |
| 2 | ripe yellow peaches, sliced into wedges |
| 2 | ripe red or black plums, sliced into wedges |
| 1/2 | green cucumber, halved and sliced on the bias; or ½ bunch of red radishes, thinly sliced (or half the amount of each) |
| Flaky sea salt, for serving |
| 1 | cup (heaping) dry chickpeas (or two 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed) |
| Kosher salt | |
| 1/4 | cup plus 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more to taste |
| 3 | (7- or 8-inch) pitas, split in half and torn into 1-inch pieces |
| Freshly ground black pepper | |
| 1 | large shallot |
| 1 | large lemon |
| 1 | small garlic clove, grated |
| 1/2 to 1 | teaspoons ground sumac |
| 1 to 2 | teaspoons honey |
| 1/2 | bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves and all stems, chopped (about 1 cup, packed) |
| 1 | cup (packed) mint leaves |
| 2 | ripe yellow peaches, sliced into wedges |
| 2 | ripe red or black plums, sliced into wedges |
| 1/2 | green cucumber, halved and sliced on the bias; or ½ bunch of red radishes, thinly sliced (or half the amount of each) |
| Flaky sea salt, for serving |
Written by: Rebecca Firkser
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3 Comments
I buy it in the states of California and Washington. I hope folks are lucky enough for it to have made it over the Rockies.
Or crispy or toasted rice.
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