Chef Daniel Wright's Fattoush Makes All Eaters Smile

You don't have to be a vegetarian to love chef Daniel Wright's fattoush.

Wright, an enthusiastic omnivore, admits to downing the crisp salad (see the recipe) regularly at his Mediterranean restaurant and wine bar, Abigail Street, in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Wright's take on the traditional Lebanese salad has cooling cucumbers, yellow bell peppers and green onions intermingling with ripe tomatoes and golden-brown pita croutons sprinkled with the lively spice mixture za'atar.

The key to the dish, Wright says, has nothing to do with the size of the chopped vegetables: He recommends ensuring that the toasted pita is drizzled with the lemon juice and olive oil, so that the za'atar spice blends into the rest of the ingredients. Your resulting bites will be equal parts fragrant, bright and crunchy.

To make the salad even more healthful, consider using whole-wheat pita for the croutons. No matter how you slice it, we can't think of a better dish to cool off with this month.