Fattoush, a Middle Eastern Bread Salad, Is the Product of Summer's Labor LABOR DAY has passed, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer, and I'm certainly not ready to give up on late-summer produce, most of which is still quite glorious. It would be a shame to fast-forward prematurely into autumn fare. September is an ideal time to savor the sweetest ripe tomatoes and peppers. Cucumbers, too, are at their best, and fresh herbs are abundant. Use them to make fattoush, the Lebanese bread salad, versions of which are found throughout the Middle East. It is essentially a chopped salad made with crisp toasted stale pita or other Arab flatbread; the aforementioned tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers; and an olive oil dressing with lots of sweet herbs. To be completely authentic, it should also contain a sprinkling of reddish powdered sumac, which has a sour lemony flavor and is available from good spice merchants online or at many ethnic markets. Fresh purslane (also called verdolaga, among other names), a slightly sour green succulent plant, is also traditional. You can sometimes get it at farmers" markets, or find it growing wild (it volunteers itself in most vegetable gardens). I had neither the day my fattoush craving hit, so I went without them, but the salad is open to interpretation and was delicious nonetheless. To toast the pita, use whatever method is convenient. A toaster oven works fine. You want the bread quite dry and crisp so it can be broken into bite-size pieces. I like to use whole wheat pita, which is more flavorful, giving the salad earthy appeal that is reminiscent of tabbouleh. The vegetables can be dressed up to an hour in advance, but I add the chopped parsley, mint, cilantro and pita only a few minutes before serving. The bread should be well moistened, though some people prefer to keep it crisp and crouton-like. The herby vegetable salad mixture also makes a fine vegetarian sandwich, spooned into a split freshly baked soft pita with a dab of yogurt or tahini.