Barefoot Blogging: Panzanella

When I first saw this recipe I was a little lost. I had never heard of panzanella before. I had to Google it to figure out what it (since they didn't have a picture of it up at the Food Network site). That is how I learned that it is basically a leftover salad with bread as the centerpiece instead of greens. It is a great way to get rid of that stale bread that always seems to accumulate (at least around our house it does). I'm glad I Googled it and found out what panzanella was because I was slightly upset to see that Ina's recipe used bell peppers and we both hate bell peppers so then I realized I could pretty much use whatever I wanted and it would be fine. Instead of the bell peppers I used pitted Kalmata olives (about 1/2 a cup). I love Kalamata olives and I can't imagine a salad without them (even a bread salad). In addition to the olives I tossed in some crumbled blue cheese and some chopped up sun dried tomatoes (not the kind steeped in oil; the dry kind). If you live near a Trader Joes I would recommend getting the olives and sun dried tomatoes there. I found both ingredients there for about 1/2 the price of the local grocery store.

I do have to say that I loved the vinaigrette that she made for this. You can find Ina's recipe for panzanella here but if you aren't cooking it for a party or picnic you'll probably want to half the recipe. We currently have enough panzanella to feed the whole street.