Sunday, October 3, 2010

Greek Panzanella

A couple of weeks ago we were having company over for dinner. I always analyze and then over analyze what I should make when people come to dinner. I never know if our way of eating will satisfy someone else's taste, so I get a little crazy about it.
I think about food all the time anyway, so I really just spend too much time thinking, planning, undoing my plans, and re-planning.

It's a process.

I finally narrowed it down to a menu that would savor the last of summer fall-ish type dinner. Since we were still enjoying 90+ degree days and all my favorite summer foods were still readily found at the farmers market, we went with the summer menu.

I wanted to try this Greek twist on The Barefoot Contessa's Panzanella, because the original version is a crowd pleaser that we love.
It turned out to be the perfect choice. Everyone was really happy with this dinner. Phew!

* note--I always toast my bread cubes in the oven, drizzling them with a little bit of olive oil, to get them nice and crisp and also to reduce some of the fat in this meal. I also reduce the amount of oil in the dressing.

Recipe for Greek Panzanella
* I used black olives instead of kalamata olives
* I toasted my bread cubes in the oven instead of sauteing them in oil- it uses less oil and gets them evenly crisped
*I reduced the amount of oil in the dressing by about half
* I left out the red onion

8 comments:

  1. I've never had panzanella, but it looks delicious! I love Greek food so I'm sure I'd love this!

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  2. Wow...it looks so tempting and yummy!

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  3. That looks so bright and delicious. I love Greek flavors and imagine that they would be amazing in panzanella.

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  4. I tend to obsess about dinner party menus too! This looks like it would be a huge hit - yum!

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  5. I love this salad and I need to make it again. I like how you put the bread cubes in the oven because I sauteed mine and you do need more oil to get them crispy. I'm sure your company loved it.

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  6. I've been wanting to try panzanella for quite some time. Thanks for the reminder, although I don't think mine will turn out nearly as gorgeous as yours!

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  7. Linked to your blog from Tastespotting.com - great photo made made me hungry! I had to laugh about how you agonize over the menue - redoing/undoing/redoing again - I do the SAME thing when the bottom line is most people are just happy for you to cook for them no matter what you serve! I am curious..what else did you serve with this? Or, was it alight dinner with salad as the entree?

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Mary Ann