When the weather turns warm, I tend to lose my appetite. It’s just too hot to eat a big hearty meal. The exception is salad. But who wants to eat the same ol’ greens with tomatoes everyday?

The garden department told me there was some basil in the test garden that had flowered and need to be snipped. I’ve made lots of herb salads before, but never one with just basil and never using the flowers. Why not? 

I brought in the flowering stalks with a few of the leaves, then picked and washed them. With the addition of a few things we had around the kitchen, I had a fresh, unusual salad that was a burst of summer.

12 oz. roasted red bell peppers, sliced

4 cups loosely packed basil leaves and flowers

1/4 cup slivered onion

1/2 cup toasted whole almonds

2 tbsp. sherry vinegar

3 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 oz. goat cheese

Just toss all these together and serve. Simple and tasty.