Whoa busy freaking week! I (Michael) have been swamped with freelance work but luckily I have a wonderful, beautiful and extremely helpful wife to get me through these busy nights. Times like these call for archived photos of previous dishes and quick weeknight meals (that are healthy as well since sometimes I'm too busy to hit the gym). This salad is the epitome of the three. Not to mention it was our out first panzanella recipe! It was a good, light and healthy summer salad. I think it's key to use some good bread. We were going to just use a few slices of wheat sandwich bread (BLAND!), but we found a petite loaf of flax and bran on sale at the grocery store and it worked perfectly. Serves 4-6. Modified from Eating Well.
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
- 4 cloves garlic, divided
- 4 cups 1/2-inch crusty multigrain bread cubes (we used about 3/4 of a medium sized flax & bran loaf from the bakery)
- 1 pound peeled, deveined shrimp
- 3 large ripe but firm tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- 2 large green, red and/or yellow bell peppers, diced
- 3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh chives
- 1/4 cup sliced pitted Kalamata olives
- 1/4 cup olive brine (liquid in the olive jar)
- 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
- 3/4 teaspoon thyme
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- Lettuce, to serve on
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Drizzle 2 tablespoons oil on a rimmed baking sheet. Peel and half two cloves of the garlic. Mash garlic into the oil with a fork to infuse it with flavor; discard the garlic. Stir bread cubes into the oil until lightly coated. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes, until very crisp, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely.
- Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Once hot, mince the remaining two cloves of garlic into the skillet. Add shrimp and cook until pink and cooked through, 3-6 minutes. Set aside to cool.
- Combine shrimp, tomatoes, bell peppers, cilantro, chives, olives and olive brine, vinegar, thyme and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large bowl. Season with pepper. Let stand for at least 10 minutes to blend the flavors.
- Toss the croutons with the shrimp mixture and serve the salad over the lettuce.
9 comments:
I absolutely love panzanella salad - how clever of you to add shrimp, which would make it even better. This I've got to try!
Sam
I love panzanella and adding shrimp is just genius!
ooh, this looks great! panzanella is definitely something i've been meaning to try, seems like a great summer dish.
magnificent summer gare! and i must compliment your photos these days--so clear and crisp and particularly drool-inducing. :)
Panzanella is definitely in the top five of favorite salads. Try a panzanella with cornbread. So good!
I know it's the kind of thing that gets bandied around in blog comments, but this photo actually made my stomach growl. Not so great at 10:20pm but stuff it - it was worth it :) Great recipe.
I love panzanella, the options are endless and talk about a delicious crouton alternative ;)
I never had panzanella, and this with shrimp is something that I'd love to try...not only looks pretty but looks SO SO tasty :-)
Beautiful salad.
Panzanella is awesome - well...put bread in anything and I'll eat ; )
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