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Tuscan Panzanella Salad

By Cathy · June 6th, 2011

There is nothing like a blog post a-la-minute!  We are literally waiting to dig in and gobble up this de-lish salad as soon as I snap a shot.  Rosemary infused grilled lamb chops, summer corn saute and Tuscan Panzanella Salad all served “al fresco” on the patio for dinner tonight.  A great bottle of Pinot, candlelight and a cute hubby to dine with to-boot.  LISVG. (Thanks to JoJo for that acronym).

Panzanella salad is a bread and tomato salad originating in Italy.  The Tuscans don’t like to waste even a morsel or crumb of good bread, so this wonderful rustic salad was created centuries ago to use up all the day-old bread sitting around the villa.  There are loads of panzanella salad recipes floating around.  The basic approach is to get some great in-season summer vegetables (must include LOTS of tomatoes), make some homemade grilled croutons from the leftover bread and douse all with a simple vinaigrette.  Although I did not do it this evening – you can always add cheese and olives too – it’s a salad for heaven’s sake.

It’s really impossible to describe what happens when you pop a forkful of the homemade croutons and tomatoes soaked in the vinaigrette into your mouth.  I’ll just have to let you experience that yourself.

Tuscan Panzanella Salad

Ingredients

1 loaf rustic sourdough bread, rough cut into 1 inch cubes (about 6 cups)

2 TBSP butter

2 TBSP olive oil

salt to taste

2 bell peppers (red, yellow or orange) stems and seeds removed, cut into one inch pieces

1 small red onion, large dice (about 1/2 cup)

1 large cucumber, seeds scooped out and cut in one inch pieces

1 pint sweet, firm tomatoes, cut in bite size pieces

6-8 large basil leaves, chopped

Vinaigrette

2 cloves fresh minced garlic

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 red wine vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Method

Start with a loaf of rustic sourdough bread.

Rough cut it into one inch cubes

Melt 2 TBSP butter and 2 TBSP olive oil in a saute pan.  Add the bread cubes.  Salt to taste.  Saute over medium-low heat for about 5-10 minutes until cubes are toasty and brown.

  If you start nabbing a bite to taste – be sure to leave some for the salad!

I like the way it looks to leave a little skin on the cucumber.  I just took a vegetable peeler and peeled off every other row.

Chop the vegetables and basil, whisk together all the ingredients in the vinaigrette, throw everything in a big bowl with the home made croutons and pour the vinaigrette over all.  Enjoy!!

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Categories : Italian, Salads
Tags : al fresco dining, basil, bell pepper, cucumber, extra virgin olive oil, Italian, olive oil, red onion, rustic, salad, tomatoes, vegetarian, vinaigrette, weeknight

Comments

  1. Sue the Desperate Housemommy says:
    June 7, 2011 at 9:28 am

    Ooooh…is this what my groom was raving about on Sunday evening? Looks fabulous!

    Reply
    • just pinch me says:
      June 7, 2011 at 2:03 pm

      We had the Greek version on Sunday :) Missed you tons! I’ll make it again for you next time.

      Reply
  2. pinkpolkadotblog says:
    June 7, 2011 at 11:56 am

    I love this!

    Reply
    • just pinch me says:
      June 7, 2011 at 2:04 pm

      Thanks!

      Reply
  3. Casey says:
    June 7, 2011 at 9:43 pm

    This looks awesome! I could sit and eat bread and vinaigrette by themselves (and I do) :)

    Reply
    • just pinch me says:
      June 7, 2011 at 11:32 pm

      Me too!!

      Reply

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