First up was a night of midweek cooking with my pal Julia. We started with a summer-perfect chilled fruit soup--supposed to be canteloupe-peach, but we threw in a nectarine because we didn't buy enough peaches--from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Some bites were a little bit acidic, so we might have been able to add a little more honey, but I was thoroughly pleased.
big bowl of bright, fruity soup
While the soup chilled, we put together this a-maze-ing pesto potato salad with green beans. Super simple, especially because we used lovely storebought pesto from my favorite little Italian market. I think the salad could also stand some halved cherry or grape tomatoes, and Julia noted quite rightly that asparagus, rather than green beans, would also be lovely. Big ups to Julia's iPhone for both photos.
carbs + garlic + veggies = my idea of heaven
And yesterday, I finally (finally!) made panzanella. For at least a couple years, I have had a love affair with the idea of throwing bread in a salad with ripe, juicy tomatoes and glugs of luscious olive oil, and the half loaf of week-old seven grain bread dwelling on the kitchen counter had been begging me to finally give it a shot. In looking for a recipe to try, I found competing theories of how panzanella should be made; some insist that the bread must be toasted or fried briefly with olive oil, and others believe that the bread must still have some softness and give. My gut said not to toast, and going that route meant one less step of work, so I ran with it.
This straightforward recipe was the most appealing one I found. (No pictures, because I didn't take one before we ate, and after dinner there was just a sad amount of leftovers that it didn't do the salad's greatness any justice. Trust me that it was colorful, gorgeous, fragrant and extremely delicious.)
Panzanella
Adapted from Gourmet, August 1993 (found at epicurious.com)
Time: 45 minutes or less
3/4 lb. stale bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (you want 6 c. total)
2 large, ripe tomatoes (about 1 lb.), stem end removed and cut into chunks roughly equal in size to bread pieces
3/4 c. English cucumber, sliced and then cut into quarter slices
1/2 c. thinly sliced red onion
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp. balsalmic vinegar, or to taste (I thought it could've used more, though 2 Tbsp. seems like a good starting point)
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
10 basil leaves, shredded or torn or cut into ribbons
Throw everything into a big serving bowl and mix until well combined.
A caveat: I sprinkled the balsalmic over the top of the bread, so some pieces soaked up more than their fair share of vinegar. In the future I'll probably combine the oil and vinegar (and possibly the veggies, too) before combining them with the bread.
Also, my gut told me to mix things up about 30 minutes before we ate, so the bread had a chance to get to know everything else and soften up a bit. This seemed to be a smart move. I took it easy with the salt, then sprinkled some shredded pecorino romano over the top before serving--this was awesome. I also think some cubed sharp provolone would be incredible here.
And the fun don't stop there! Today brings more birthday goodness, in the form of a sweet, slow long run (I'm gunning for 8-9 miles) and a loverly dinner celebration con la familia at Distrito. Happy birthday to ME.
