Panzanella Salad

Second salad for the Spring season and i've gone for one similar to my very favorite salad- caprese! The Panzanella salad is of Italian origin and is primarily composed of bread and tomatoes. The bread soaks up the olive oil and balsamic and adds a delicious crunch and carbohydrate satiety to the dish.

A note on tomatoes: as we get into the hotter months, the time for the best tomatoes (late summer) draws nearer and nearer! Gone are the the hard, tasteless round globes that we must satisfy ourselves with in Autumn and Winter, and in come the delicious, intensely flavored real deal! If you're a supermarket shopper there is a great tomato available at coles now in a package called 'Intense'. They're marketed as being low in the moist innards of your standard tomato and thus as being ideal for sandwiched. But they're also grown in DIRT (a rarity now) and are strongly flavored, ideal for this salad!

Ingredients (Serves 4)

•  12 medium-large tomatoes
• 200gm bocconcini
• 1 loaf Italian bread, 2 days old
• 100ml olive oil
• 75ml aged balsamic vinegar
• 1 large bunch basil, torn
• 1 red onion, finely sliced
• A good grind of salt and pepper

Method

Cut the crusts off the bread and chop into 1 inch cubes

Put into a hot oven for 15-25 minutes or until lightly golden and dried out.
Leave to cool.
De-seed the tomatoes if necessary and chop into 8ths

Chopp the bocconcini into halves

Toss the basil, bocconcini, tomatoes and red onion together with salt and pepper in a bowl.

Whisk together the oil and vinegar in a cup and drizzle over the bread. Toss so the bread soaks it all up.

Combine the bread and the rest of the salad and transfer to serving bowls.

Serve immediately