No-Cook Mediterranean Supper

This menu pivots around our all-time favorite meal-in-a-bowl summer salad. It's a Mediterranean classic - almost every country has a version of it. Bread was never thrown away years ago. In fact, when a piece of bread was dropped in many Mediterranean homes, the woman of the house would pick it up and kiss it, an apology for carelessness with something so precious.Bread was a key to survival. So even when it went stale, not a crumb was wasted.

Instead, people created wonderful dishes based on stale bread like this salad chuck full of all kinds of delicious vegetables, herbs, condiments and pieces of marinated country bread. The salad takes bits of everything you may have in the fridge and the garden or farmer's market. What I love about it, aside from the great taste and the colors that practically vibrate, is how you really engage with this salad. You have to make it with your hands - plenty of fun for little ones. Break bread into bite-size pieces, tear greens, pluck herb leaves, measure by handfuls, and know if it's right by tasting again and again. Everyone gets in on the act with this dish.

In Morocco, sweet mint tea is the drink of contemplation, made for slow sipping and good conversation. This iced version fits nicely into our hot-weather lifestyles, but still encourages everyone to linger at the table for good talk. Sip it with the unusual lemon ice cream and occasionally pick up a cherry by its stem for a mouth-filling experience with lushness.

Iced Moroccan Tea
Peasant's Supper Salad
Stirred Lemon Ice Cream

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