We always love a bread salad – who doesn’t? And this one is absolutely gorgeous. From one of our favorite food blogs Love and Lemons, we cannot wait to try it out.
Sweet Pepper Panzanella
Yield: serves 3-4 as a side
Ingredients:
2-3 sweet peppers (red and/or yellow)
olive oil
sherry vinegar (or balsamic or white wine vinegar)
pinch of sweet or smoked paprika
toasted stale bread, rubbed w/ olive oil & garlic
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1-2 leaves of kale, torn
1/2 cup little mozzarella balls
1/4 cup chunky pickled onions (see below)
handful of torn basil
salt & pepper
pickled onions:
1 small red onion, sliced into thick strips
white wine vinegar (enough to fill the jar of onions)
a few pinches of cane sugar and salt
Instructions
1. For the pickled onions: (make in advance) pickle your onions by shaking all ingredients together in a jar. Chill until for at least an hour, or up to days (or weeks, really) in advance.
2. Slice cherry tomatoes and toss them with a splash of olive oil, a splash of sherry vinegar, salt, pepper.
3. Drizzle olive oil on your stale bread and toast (or grill) it until golden. While it’s still warm, rub it with a sliced clove of garlic, then slice it into bite sized pieces.
4. De-seed and slice your peppers into thick strips. Sautée them in a pan with olive oil until soft and lightly blistered. (you could also do this on a grill). Remove from heat, drizzle with a little sherry vinegar and a pinch of paprika.
5. Toss all salad ingredients together so that the juices from the tomatoes and the peppers create a light dressing. Drizzle with a little more olive oil. Taste, and add more salt and pepper to your liking. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes or so for the bread to soak up the juices. Serve at room temp.
Notes:
Instead of pickled onions, you can also cook onions with your peppers. Use a yellow onion instead of a red one.
Vegan option: skip the cheese
Credit: Love and Lemons
