The bagel shop down the street introduced me to za'atar. It features prominently in one of their breakfast sandwiches: a whole wheat everything bagel, sliced and toasted, topped with thinly sliced hardboiled eggs, and then drizzled with olive oil and za'atar.
It's the perfect sandwich for mornings when you want to really eat, like those long train rides to museums outside the city or the mornings when you rush off to a workshop and know you won't get a break for hours.
My dad sent me a huge box of za'atar. Delightfully huge. Big enough to fill a large canning jar plus some. It felt like Christmas came early.
The thing is, you generally only use a few tablespoons of za'atar at a time, which means I've got a lot of experimenting to do.
I could use up all the za'atar my dad sent in this salad, just making it again and again every week.
Whatever you call this--salad, hearty main dish, a bowl of perfection--it's just delicious. The za'atar brings a Middle Eastern flavor to the dish, and the lemon juice brightens things up. The roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions add a bit of sweetness, and the eggplant and carrots give you something to look forward to in every bite.
I ate this hot, at room temperature and chilled, and I loved it every way.
This salad does require some significant preparation, but I spaced it out over the course of two days. When I put the chickpeas and freekeh out to soak, I chopped and roasted the vegetables and caramelized the onions. The next day, I simply needed to boil the chickpeas and freekeh and mix everything together. Simple.
