Garden Panzanella

Now that the tomatoes are starting to ripen (we picked another big, ripe Cherokee purple yesterday), I decided to make my favorite summer meal. Panzanella is a simple, delicious salad that uses our amazing home grown tomatoes, garlic, parsley, and basil.

I bought a loaf of crusty French bread, and cut it into smallish cubes (I put the remainder in the freezer for more panzanella). A handful of the bread cubes goes into a large bowl, and is topped with slices of fresh tomato and lots of torn basil leaves (I used our red and green basils). Finally, I drizzle a good quantity of my homemade Green Tara salad dressing (see post above for recipe) over, and toss. Done. Insanely yummy.

Since my husband also pulled about a cup or so of green beans out of the garden last night, I added them, chopped, to the panzanella, although this is not traditional.  I also added a chopped organic apple.

But the right way to make classic panzanella is simply with bread, tomatoes, basil, and a light, garlicky dressing.

This is one of the joys of summer. Long live this wonderful season of sun. Thank you, Mother Earth.

/II\

Namu Amida Butsu