Caprese Panzanella Salad: It’s Delicious, But It’s Not Everything.

You guys. This salad. I almost typed “this salad is EVERYTHING,” and I’m not sure why, because I loathe when that word is used in such a way. When people dramatically say “______ is everything!” I have to stifle an eye roll. For example, I often read online comments where someone will say something along the lines of “Oh-emmmm-geeeeeeee, these shoes are EVERYTHING!!!”

Me when someone says, “That’s everything!”    PS- I love you, Meryl!

Blech. By saying something is “everything,” it is like saying your life is now complete because of a material item. Am I the only one who is bothered by the superficiality of this phrase? Okay, diatribe over. Now that that’s off of my chest, and I sound like a 70 year old (“kids these days!” **shakes fist**), let’s get back to something that makes me very happy: this salad.

I’m posting this due to popular demand. And by popular demand, I mean my mom asked me for the recipe. I’ve made this two ways now: with fresh tomatoes, and with oven-roasted tomatoes. I can definitively say that Dr. D and I both prefer the fresh tomato version. You can roast the tomatoes if your little heart so desires (400F: drizzle w/O.O., S&P, roast for 20 mins), but it’s easier, quicker, and tastier to just use fresh. The pictures I’m using are from when I tried it with oven-roasted tomatoes, but let’s all just pretend they are fresh, k?

So, without further ado: CAPRESE PANZANELLA SALAD.                                 Feeds 2 Ashleys or 4 normal humans. Total time: 30 mins.

You will need:

• a few tablespoons of olive oil
• S & P to taste
• 1/2 c balsamic vinegar
• 2-3 large handfuls of baby spinach, roughly chopped
• A nice, crusty baguette
• 2 pints grape tomatoes
• 8-12 oz fresh mozzarella
• 2 oz. fresh basil

Preheat oven to 400 F. In the meantime, take your handfuls of washed spinach and give them a rough chop. Place in a large bowl and sprinkle with S & P to taste. Then drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil (don’t drown them!). Now toss. It should look something like this:

Next you are going to chiffonade the basil. My favorite part, because I love saying the word “chiffonade.” If you are unfamiliar with that technique, here’s a step-by-step:

Gather some of your basil leaves into a stack.

Next, roll them tightly into what looks like a cute little basil cigar.

chop the roll into slices about 1/2″ thick

Voila! Now you are a chiffonading ninja! Do this with the rest of your basil and toss it in with the spinach. The oven should be preheated now, so take half of your loaf of baguette, and cut it into 1/2″ slices. Put them on a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 15-20 mins, depending on how toasted you want your bread (I like it very toasted, so that when it soaks up the vinegar/o.o. in the salad, it doesn’t get soggy).

While the bread is toasting, place 1/2 cup of good quality balsamic vinegar in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil over medium heat, and then immediately reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until your vinegar is reduced by half (about 1/4 c). Remove from heat. As it cools it should thicken some, and become almost syrupy in nature.

Slice your grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella in half. By the way, this is the type of mozzarella I like to use:

Add them to the salad. Drizzle the balsamic reduction over the top.

Sooo pretty!!

When the bread comes out of the oven, roughly chop or tear into large croutons, about an inch across. More S & P to taste. Now toss everything together and serve immediately!

This really is the perfect refreshing summertime salad!

Moo-ving to Dairyland

So I’m trying out this internetz blogging thing. That’s what we millennials do, amiright? I’m just going to dive right in with my signature grace:

If you know me, you know I recently moved with my hubs (Dr. D) from Seattle, WA to Madison, WI.  He graduated from medical school and is starting his residency program here for the next few years. I figure starting a blog might be a nice outlet since I don’t know anyone here in cheeseland yet, and I have some downtime while I’m looking for a job. I’m still missing Seattle and my West Coast peeps a bit. Madison doesn’t feel like home quite yet. That’s not a bad thing. It just is what it is. I know like with anything else in life it just takes time to adjust.

*Side note: Real talk though, y’all– when I found out we were moving to Madison I wasn’t exactly sure where Wisconsin was on the map. I just physicially cringed as I typed that last sentence. Yeesh. I sound like such a stereotypical “‘Merica!” American right now. Blame it on the terrible education system in Louisiana where I grew up. In school I was never made to memorize where all 50 states were located. Anyway, now I know where Wisconsin is, and I don’t just point and say it’s “in the middle” anymore when looking at a map. Progress!

I promise I’m smart.

Anyway, the first thing I noticed when Dr. D and I arrived in Wisconsin were the license plates:

They proudly proclaim the fact that there are a lot of cows, milk, cheese, yogurt, and well… dairy products here. “America’s Dairyland” is right. See the cute little red barn with silo in the top right corner? There are a lot of those everywhere as you drive along the highway too. It’s very cute.

The second thing I noticed, Wisconsin-ites (or is it Wisconsonians? Madisonians?) are VERY proud of said dairy products. The first words out of what seemed like every local’s mouth after finding out we had just moved to the area were “Oh you’re going to love all the cheese here!” Apparently June is dairy month in WI, and its kind of a BIG deal. I think they are on to something, because on our second day here we went and had a late lunch at “The Old Fashioned” downtown in the square and ordered these cheese curds everyone talks about. OMG. Life changed. I don’t even know who I was before these fried cheese curds…

(Me before discovering fried cheese curds.)

The life-changing cheese curds:

The ah-mah-zing cheese curds from The Old Fashioned. Pictures don’t do them justice.

Third thing I’ve learned: There are farmer’s markets, and then there is the Dane County Farmer’s Market. Holy cow y’all. It is the largest “producers only farmer’s market” in the US. There are over 300 vendors selling all kinds of scrumptious locally-produced goodies, not to mention food trucks and live music. We went our first Saturday here around noon, and being the claustrophobic person I am, let’s just say I’ll be getting up much earlier to go next time in hopes of beating the sea of thousands of sweaty shoppers browsing goods at the brisk pace of 2 mph. There are so many people that you can only walk around the square with the flow of traffic. And that flow is always counterclockwise. Don’t ask me why.

During my first visit I bought some bright yellow local heirloom tomatoes and pea shoots, and a homemade buttermilk potato donut. When we got home later that evening I threw together a caprese panzanella salad with the local ingredients we had purchased and Dr. D said it was one of the best salads he had ever eaten. I’ll take it! Seriously though, after eating store bought tomatoes for years, one tends to forget what tomatoes are actually supposed to taste like. Hint: it’s not those mealy, vaguely-flavored things they sell at the chain grocery store. As a kid I used to eat homegrown tomatoes like they were apples- maybe sprinkled with a little bit of salt- and ohmygosh sooo good! Did anyone else do this growing up, or was I just a weird kid with an equally weird insatiable appetite for tomatoes? And on that note….

TTFN.