Panzanella. Sort of.

Shopping list:

1 loaf Vienna, French, or Italian bread

1 pkg. fresh basil

1/2 a purple onion

1 Tbsp (or so) minced garlic

8 tomatoes

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive oil

Salt & pepper

So... before the red blooded Italians start sending me hate mail, I KNOW this is not really how you make Panzanella.  Traditional Panzanella is made with stale Italian bread which you tear up and soak in water before you mix up the salad.  This seems so wrong. As in, "Crime Against Humanity" wrong.

But you know what's so RIGHT?  Toasty, golden brown cubes of toast which soak up just enough juice from the tomatoes to be soft enough to stab with a fork as you shovel it into your face as fast as you can without attracting stares. Yep. THAT good.

Check this out.

 

First, I take a big loaf of some sort of white bread from the bakery- at Pete's, I love to use the unsliced Vienna bread, but Italian and French bread all work beautifully.  This bread is fairly soft, so if you have an electric knife, this is a great time to break it out. You'll thank me.  Cut it up into roughly 3/4 inch cubes and lay them out on two big sheet pans. You can drizzle them with olive oil or, if you're lazy like myself, give them a generous spray with Pam Olive Oil spray. It really is just olive oil, and works great on stuff like this. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stick the pans in a 350 degree oven until nice and toasty. Keep an eye on them, because they can get REALLY brown REALLY fast. When they look good to you, take our the pans and let them cool. (Protip: These are basically just croutons. Perfect for putting on salad or simply eating by the handful.)

Next, chop up a package of fresh basil leaves, half a purple onion, and as much garlic as you dare and put them in a BIG bowl.

Remember that electric knife you had out for the bread? You're going to be happy you have that out because now you're going to core and cut up EIGHT (or more) tomatoes. This is a fantastic way to use up tomatoes from your garden in August!

Throw the tomatoes in the bowl with the basil, onion, and garlic. Add about a 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar and 1/4 cup olive oil, salt and pepper.

If you can let this sit for an hour or so, that's perfect. But don't mix in the bread until right before you eat. It's no good as leftovers. If you want to have it later on, I like to put some of the tomato mixture in a Tupperware bowl, the bread in a Ziplock bag, and mix it together right before lunch.

My kids will happily polish off 2 or more plates FULL of this super duper healthy salad for supper and nothing else. I usually throw some chicken breasts or shrimp on the grill to go along with it.

Enjoy!

Megan