Panzanella

A little bread never hurt anyone. Heck, even a little white bread never hurt anyone...however there's never a LITTLE bit of bread around this house. It's either all or nothing.

That's how I ended up making panzanella a few days ago with (hard to believe) leftover baguette and the freshest ingredients on earth, plucked from my back garden just before assembling the salad.

This salad takes very little time to assemble. Just a bit of chopping and perhaps toasting (or grilling?) if your bread isn't stale enough. You could omit the green beans and substitute something else if you didn't want to go to the trouble of filling a pot to blanch them. Any way you look at it, it's an easy, no heat, low fuss dinner.

Panzanella

Serves 4

Pint (or more) cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

1 or 2 large heirloom tomatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces

8 oz green beans, blanched

3/4 c fresh mozzarella, cubed

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 day old baguette, white or whole grain, toasted or grilled if not dried out

1 garlic clove

1 medium cucumber, seeded, quartered and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 c very thinly sliced red onion

1/4 c (or more) thinly sliced basil

Basil flowers, for garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Halve garlic clove. Rub cut side of garlic on toasted bread. Cut bread into bite sized chunks. Set aside.

Combine vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl or a jar. Drizzle in oil and whisk or add oil, put a lid on the jar and shake vigorously.

Put tomatoes, cucumber, onion bread and basil in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over and toss well to combine. Divide among four plates and garnish with basil flowers.

Did I mention that we had garlic bread as a side? Like I said...it's all or nothing...