A wonderfully fresh and crunchy salad full of flavors and textures. Serve this outdoors with a simple grilled fish and you have a great, light summer dinner.
Course
Salad
Cuisine
Italian
Prep Time15minutes
Cook Time25minutes
Total Time40minutes
Ingredients
For the vinaigrette:
½cupextra virgin olive oil
1/4cupbalsamic vinegar
½tablespoonminced garlic
½tspsea salt
¼tspfreshly ground black pepper
For the croutons:
3tablespoonsfinely minced garlic
1/3cupolive oil
1teaspoonsea salt
4cupswhole grain breadcubed into 1” cubes
For the Panzanella Salad:
4 tomatoes cut into medium dice
1English cucumber cut into medium dice
1/3cupthinly sliced red onion soaked in ice water with ice cubes for 15 minutes
2Tbspchopped fresh basil
salt and black pepper
8ouncesfresh mozzarella “pearls” or cubedor feta
Instructions
For the dressing:
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients for dressing and set aside.
For the croutons:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a very large salad bowl, mix the garlic, oil and salt. Toss in the bread cubes mix them until they are evenly coated.
Spread the bread on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, then stir the bread around. Bake for another 15 minutes or until bread is brown and crisp.
For the Panzanella Salad:
In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and basil. Add croutons and toss with the dressing. If using the mozzarella or feta, toss it in at the end. Set aside for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to blend. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.