1 cup whole, shelled walnuts
1 ½  pounds 1-inch pieces, boneless roasted chicken
6 cups prepared herbal salad or baby greens, rinsed and drained thoroughly
4 firm ripe Bosc pears, peeled, cored
½ cut lemon

Good- quality prepared Balsamic salad dressing or:
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine or Balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 ounces crumbled Roquefort or Stilton cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast until golden brown and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Let cool and chop coarsely.
2. Arrange the greens in the bottom of a large bowl. Arrange the chicken pieces and pears on top. Sprinkle the cheese and walnuts over all.
3. If preparing the dressing, in a bowl, whisk together the mustard and vinegar. Slowly add the oil in a thin stream while whisking the mixture vigorously. (Alternatively, you may do this in a food processor.)  As you add the oil, the mixture should thicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Before serving, pour the dressing over the salad and serve.

Copyright Nina Simonds

This bread salad is the favourite every-day Lebanese salad. The spice sumac 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 end while it is crisp. You can buy purslane and small cucumbers (they have a better flavor than our large ones) in Middle Eastern stores.
11/2  pita breads
1 Cos lettuce, cut into 1/2 inch ribbons
about 100g purslane leaves or lamb’s lettuce
4 firm ripe tomatoes, cut into medium pieces
4 small cucumbers, peeled and cut into thick slices
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into small slices
11/2 mild onions or 8 scallions, chopped
large handful chopped flat-leaf parsley
4−5 sprigs of mint, shredded
1/3 – 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and black pepper
1 tablespoon ground sumac

Cut around the pita and open them out. Toast them under the grill or in the oven until they are crisp; turn them over once.
Break them into small pieces in your hands. Put all the vegetables and herbs in a large bowl.
For the dressing, mix the olive oil with the lemon juice, salt, pepper and sumac.

Just before serving, sprinkle the toasted pita o ver the salad then toss the salad well with the dressing. Serves 6–8