Bread Salad with Sumac

Name: Bread Salad with Sumac
Yield: serves 6 to 8
Ingredients: 1 1/2 pita breads; 1 romaine lettuce, cut into 1/2-inch ribbons; About 2 cups purslane leaves or lamb’s lettuce (mâche); 4 firm ripe tomatoes, cut into medium pieces; 4 small cucumbers, peeled and cut into thick slices; 1 green bell pepper, seeded and cut into small slices; 1 1/2 mild onions or 8 scallions, chopped; Large handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley; 4 to 5 sprigs of mint, shredded; 1/3 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil; Juice of 1 lemon; Salt and black pepper; 1 tablespoon ground sumac

December 9, 2011

This bread salad is the favorite everyday, Lebanese salad. Sumac (see page 7) gives it a distinctive sharp flavor. The old traditional way was to moisten the toasted bread with water and a little lemon juice before soaking it further with the dressing, which made it deliciously soft and soggy. Nowadays, the toasted bread is broken into pieces and added to the salad at the last minute while it is crisp. You can buy purslane and small cucumbers (they have a better flavor than our large ones) in Middle Eastern stores.

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