Come warm weather, I’m a big fan of carb salads–potato salad is delicious, but there are so many more. This bread salad is a middle eastern take off on the Italian panzanella salad. While you can toast the pita breads you can also use leftover pitas that are past their prime. I got this recipe from my friend Jan Heasley.
4 pita breads, torn into two inch pieces
2 cucumbers, peeled and diced
2 tomatoes, diced
two-thirds cup chick peas (canned and drained, or cooked from scratch)
one-half cup fresh lemon juice
one-half cup mint leaves, chopped
one-half cup cilantro, minced
one-half cup dill, minced
one-third cup extra virgin olive oil
one-half cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
six romaine lettuce leaves, torn in thin shreds
3 scallions, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
two-thirds cup plain yogurt (I reccomend the Greek variety)
1) Preheat oven to 400 F. Place torn pita bread on baking sheet and bake until lightly toasted, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer to large bowl and cool.
2) Mix all remaining ingredients together in a bowl then toss with bread.
3) Serve salad with a dollop of yogurt.
