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!!!”

eye roll animated GIF — 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.

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!