Bread Salad

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things I like to use my colorful tomatoes for is Bread Salad.  You can find a zillion recipes online for this salad and you’ll see they all have similar ingredients.  I like to do a simple version. 

 

Generally I start with a nice rustic bread, cut it into 3/4" cubes and then lightly sauté it in olive oil.  I often add a little minced garlic and dried herbs to the pan, too.  And today I even added some chopped onion.  As with each step of this recipe you are free to add whatever sounds good to you. 

 

Once the bread is toasted on all or several sides, I remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a little.  The bread will get a little crunchier as it cools.  Next I cut tomatoes into 1" cubes.  Today I used several varieties from the garden but you can use just one type if you prefer.  Add some torn basil to the tomatoes (there’s both a purple and green variety in the photo), toss everything with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. 

 

You can also mix in the bread at this point but I like to place some of the bread in the bottom of a bowl, heap the tomatoes over the top, drizzle with balsamic vinegar, add a few shreds of Parmesan cheese and then toss a couple more pieces of bread on the top.