Caprese Panzanella
First order of business: sorry for the bad photo. It doesn’t look nearly as good as it tastes. I was in a hurry and didn’t let John take a proper photo, plus it’s not really the most beautiful dish in the first place (although I’ll be they could make it lovely on Top Chef or something).
Second order of business: the window of opportunity is kind of over for this sort of thing at this point, since we’re no longer at the height of fresh tomato season (in Chicago, anyway). But maybe you have a secret source of delicious, juicy, non-mealy tomatoes in the winter. If you do, make this. Really. It’s amazingly yummy.
Back when the summer was in high gear, I saw a lot of recipes for panzanella, which is basically a bread salad. I thought, why not combine my love for caprese salads with my love for bread? And thus, caprese panzanella was born. This was made for a picnic and there wasn’t a bite left over if I recall correctly.
INGREDIENTS:
1 large french baguette, chopped in 1″ pieces
3 large tomatoes, chopped in 1″ pieces
8oz fresh mozzarella, chopped in 1/2″ pieces
good olive oil
fresh basil, in a chiffonade, maybe 1/2 cup
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS:
TIP! Use kitchen scissors on the bread to cut it in pieces, it is so much easier!
1. Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Once preheated, toss the bread pieces with a glug or two of olive oil and toast for 10 minutes or so, until lightly browned.
2. Remove the bread pieces from the oven and let them cool. (This is a good time to chop everything else).
3. Combine the cheese, tomatoes, basil, another glug or two of olive oil, and plenty of salt and pepper with the bread. Stir until combined. You can chill it if you make it ahead, but I wouldn’t let it sit too long. It was really good at room temperature shortly after preparation.
Tags: basil, caprese, french bread, mozzarella, olive oil, panzanella, tomatoes