Breaking Bread Tradition: Caprese Panzanella

Summer in the Northeast brings fresh veggies and there's really nothing quite like a fresh garden tomato--a real tomato, the way it's supposed to taste--not those mealy, pink things so many restaurants and markets try to pass off to people most of the year.

Traditionally, or perhaps just typically, Panzanella salad is made with day old crusty bread that is cut up and moistened with water before it's added to the salad. It's usually tossed into a salad with capers, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions. Actually, a fantastic recipe for the real thing comes from this book by Marcella Hazan, and someone even posted it out on the web.

I don't really care for capers (don't ask me what I think they look like or you may not want to eat them either), and I'm definitely not an anchovy fan, so her recipe is a little more "done up" than what I'd prefer. In fact, admittedly, my salad is more Caprese than Panzanella. Still, I thought, instead of the traditional Caprese salad, I would try making this classic Italian salad with some gluten free bread and make it more into a Panzanella--though in all honesty, maybe it is just Caprese with gluten-free croutons, but it doesn't sound nearly as pretty, just listen to it here: Caprese Panzanella.

Anyway...

What I used (aka Ingredients):
(Serves 3-4)

2 ripe garden tomatoes

1/2 lb of fresh mozzeralla (pic shows just under a lb)
3 slices of gluten free bread (I used Udi's white)
1/2 cup (?) basil
1 scant TB butter (pic shows much more than I used)
2-3 cloves of garlic (crushed or minced)
2 hearts of romaine
Olive oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

First I tossed the gluten free bread into the toaster oven for a few minutes to give it some crunch and to keep it solid (it really falls apart sometimes). While it was toasting I chopped up the tomatoes and basil.

When the bread was toasted, I cut it into squares. Into a small frying pan I added the butter and garlic and let it simmer just slightly (medium-low flame) before adding the pieces of bread into the pan. Tossing the pan around a bit made sure the bread was nicely coated with the garlic butter and that the bread would stay/get brown. Once all the pieces seemed browned I lightly salted them and removed the pan from the heat. 


As the bread cooled a bit, I cut up the mozzarella into chunks and added it to the tomato-basil mixture. Once I felt the bread was sufficiently cool enough, I through it into the bowl with the cheese and tomatoes, splashed it with some Balsamic and olive oil, and tossed it.

  

Though it looked pretty tasty just like that, I still wanted my crunchy greens so I tore up the romaine for individual dishes and plated the salad on top (see picture at the beginning). It really made for a lovely and delicious dinner--and since the bulk of the salad was quite rich the lettuce really added a nice balance of fresh crispness. I mean garlic butter (ok) "croutons," cheese, tomatoes, and basil... who wouldn't love this salad?

I may try making the traditional Panzanella one of these days with a different type of gluten free bread--and will of course let you folks know how it turned out. Also, stayed tuned for a post about polenta in the crock pot...