Grilled Panzanella Salad

This Grilled Panzanella Salad is one of my favorite summer salad recipes.  Panzanella is an old Italian recipe for salad made leftover stale bread.  If you’ve never had it, it sounds strange but it’s incredibly good! Trust me.

Panzanella is a Tuscan summer bread salad.  It’s made with leftover bread that is stale and vegetables.  Italians also refer to this dish as “leftover salad”.  And, I can see why, it’s a great way to use up vegetables and bread from previous meals. 

I think what really drew me to this salad was the variety of colors and textures.  Crunchy peppers, tender tomatoes, crisp cucumbers.  It sounded perfect for a summer salad.

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Now, I’m a bread lover through and through but, I have to admit, I’m not sure I would like bread in my salad.  I was concerned about it getting soggy when the vinaigrette was added.

But, this salad is so incredibly delicious!  I’m already thinking about making it again.

Grilling the bread, peppers and onions really enhanced the flavor.

Honestly, I wasn’t crazy about the dressing when I tasted it before adding it to the salad. It seemed like it was missing something that I couldn’t put my finger on.  But, once I added it to the salad, it was perfect!

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This is a great picnic recipe too!  You don’t have to refrigerate it and it’s delicious served at room temperature.

Alright…now I have to go dig the leftovers out of the fridge and have a snack…I talked myself right into it!

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Panzanella Salad

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time30 mins

Course: Side Dish

Servings: 6

Author: Christina Hitchcock

Ingredients

• 6 slices of bakery Italian bread
• 1 red bell pepper - seeded
• 1 yellow bell pepper - seeded
• 1/2 red onion - sliced
• 2 large tomatoes - seeded and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 English cucumber - unwaxed, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil - coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh parsley - coarsely chopped

Vinaigrette

• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic - finely minced
• 1/2 teaspoon House Seasoning Blend

Instructions

• Grilled bread, bell peppers and red onion over medium-high heat until bread is brown and toasted on both sides and peppers and onions are slightly charred.
• Remove items from grill and cut into 1 inch pieces; Put in large bowl.
• Chop tomatoes, cucumber, basil and parsley.
• Add to bowl with bread, peppers and onions.
• Pour vinaigrette over the salad.
• Serve immediately or allow to sit for 30 minutes for the flavors to combine.

Vinaigrette

• In a small bowl whisk together vinegar, oil, mustard and House Seasoning Blend.
• Add garlic.

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