This was a healthy Shabbat. I made a few salads, a peach crumb for dessert – a perfect way to eat late at night.

One of my favorites is to use lots of greens, so this time since I got some really great fresh basil, I decided to experiment with one of my favorite summer salad recipes.

The original calls only for greens, but I’ve decided to mix:

• about a pint of cherry tomatoes
• half a big bunch of fresh basil
• a bunch of cilantro
• half a bunch of parsley
• 3-4 scallions
• 2 cloves of garlic

The trick to this type of a salad is to cut the greens really small. To do it, it’s best is to use a strong, big and very sharp knife. Not everyone knows that you, actually, have a much greater chance to cut yourself with a dull knife, than with a sharp one. You just have to position your fingers exactly perpendicular to your knife, and everything will be all right. I use really good German knives. They are kind of expensive, but worth every penny.

For the dressing I took:

some grapefruit juice (just squeeze a fresh fruit). You can also use lemon juice, of course,
• some olive oil
• crushed black pepper and some Allepian pepper
• salt to taste

And, of course, the important part of this salad is pine nuts. Toast them just a little bit and add to the salad just before serving. They emit really amazing  smell and add such flavor! If you are out of pine nuts, which is quite understandable, just take any nuts you like – walnuts, pecans or cashew. These you will have to chop and toast as well.

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Bon Appetit!