Winter Panzanella Salad

What is a Panzanella salad? It’s a Tuscan bread salad made with day old Italian bread, some vegetables and mixed with a salad dressing. What’s the difference between a summer and winter Panzanella salad? Basically, it’s the vegetables you use. A lot of recipes I’ve seen for a winter Panzanella salad have squash, zucchini, beets or sweet potatoes, I’m going to try to make mine more traditional using sun-dried tomatoes, onions and cucumbers, with a simple vinegar and oil dressing using the oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. This is a great salad to eat alone or as a side dish. 

Ingredients:

1 loaf of day old Italian bread preferably Ciabatta, cubed        
1/4 cup sun-dried tomato oil (if you don’t get enough from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes add olive oil)
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 jar of sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
25 fresh basil leaves
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

Directions:

On a baking sheet arrange the cubed bread in a single layer. Drizzle with oil and bake in a 275 degree preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Then set aside to cool.

While the bread is cooling, use a jar with a lid and make the dressing which is the oil, vinegar and salt and pepper. Shake well.

In a medium bowl add the bread, diced tomatoes, diced cucumbers, Parmesan cheese and basil leaves. Drizzle the dressing and toss until everything is coated. Top with the onion slices. Cover and let sit at room temperature 1 hour before serving. Yum Yum.