Thursday, August 14, 2008

Barefoot Bloggers-Panzanella

I am always amazed at how simple and delicious these Barefoot recipes turn out. I have to admit that I wasn't expecting to like this one so much. I have heard of it before, but never tried it, so I thought that bread salad might be strange. Oh, how wrong I was! This was delicious. Homemade croutons, essentially, with tons of fresh veggies and a wonderful vinaigrette- WOW! We loved it. I did make a few changes- I reduced the amount of oil that was used to saute the bread cubes to 1 1/2 Tbls, used white wine vinegar in the vinaigrette (Thanks Anne!), used an English cucumber, and reduced the amount of oil in the vinaigrette to 1/3 cup. Delicious! Go check out how the other Barefoot Bloggers felt about this one!
This was chosen by Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen
Panzanella
Copyright 2001, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, All Rights Reserved
3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and sliced
1/2-inch thick 1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves, coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons capers, drained
For the vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 10 minutes, or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.
For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.
In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.

14 comments:

Kirsten said...

Your salad looks great, but I want one of those cupcakes!!!

Prudy said...

I'll take one salad, and that cupcake from yesterday. It looks great and I did the same thing with the oil.

Jenny said...

Mmmmm! Love this kind of salad. It's been a while since I've made one. This sounds like a fantastic recipe.

The watermarking looks great....wink wink

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Love looking at all these panzanellas. Yours look fresh and delicious!

Maria said...

Fresh and delicious! Your salad looks wonderful!

NKP said...

I love your close up photos, they are amazing. I, too, would like a cupcake. Please?

Rebecca of "Ezra Pound Cake" said...

Mmmm, this one was so good! Ina wins again.

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you reduced the oil. I don't think I even measured mine (which means I probably ended up with a lot less than called for). I need one of those praline things from yesterday. Oh my, those look delish! I guess they kinda cancel out the salad though, right?
~The Cat's Pajamas

Sarah said...

I loved this salad too...very summery! Yours looks great!

Melissa said...

I didn't measure my oil so I think I ended up with less...hopefully! Glad you enjoyed it!

Aggie said...

I loved this salad too! How could you not with all those yummy veggies and uh...bread!! Wow!

Yours looks great! And like everyone else said...so does your lovely cupcake below...mmmm...

Unknown said...

so glad you liked it so much. your salad looks great

Alexa said...

My friend Marieke introduced me to this type of salad some years ago... It became a staple every summer. I haven't made it since I went wheat free. Yours looks delicious.

Kelley said...

We will DEFINITELY be making this soon. I love all the ingredients in here.

By the way, have you ever tried bread soup? I can't remember the Italian name for it, but it's delicious no matter what it's called.