Daytime Kitchen: Fresh Panzanella Salad

ROANOKE – Beth Richey is back in our Daytime Kitche with a fresh, colorful salad recipe perfect for summer. Learn what goes into a Panzanella Salad and what you need to whip one up for your family this Holiday weekend.

Panzanella Salad with Grilled Vegetables
Serves 4

Salad:
4 oz ciabatta bread (~3 cups cubed)
1 garlic clove, cut in half
2 ripe tomatoes (medium-large)
½ cup red onion, thinly sliced
2 zucchini, small, sliced in half
1 bell pepper, yellow, cut in half and seeds removed
Spray oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 recipe lemon vinaigrette 
2 oz feta cheese
1/8 cup fresh basil, finely sliced.

Lemon Vinaigrette:

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced
½ tsp. Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp. olive oil

Instructions:

1) Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. 
2) Cut ciabatta bread in half, rub with garlic clove and cut into 1" cubes. 
3) Layer bread cubes onto a baking sheet, spray with oil
4) Bake, uncovered for ~7-10 minutes until bread becomes crispy and slightly brown.
5) Remove bread from oven, spread cubes onto a cooling rack and set aside. 
6) While the bread is toasting, make vinaigrette. Combine the first 6 ingredients into a small bowl. Whisk ingredients while slowly adding the oil to form an emulsion. Set vinaigrette aside.
7) Spray zucchini and bell pepper with oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. 
8) Cook zucchini and peppers on a well oiled, low heat grill. Allow veggies to cook for 2-4 minutes on each side to achieve well defined grill marks, but not allowing the vegetables to become too soft. The peppers will likely need to cook longer than the zucchini. 
9) Remove veggies from the grill and cut into ½ inch slices. 
10) To assemble the salad layer cubed bread onto the bottom of a large plate or platter. Top bread with diced tomatoes + juice, then grilled veggies. Drizzle veggies with lemon vinaigrette and top with fresh basil and feta cheese. 

Nutrition Information: per serving
254 calories, 25g carbohydrates, 4g dietary fiber, 15g total fat, 4g saturated fat, 7g protein, and 522mg sodium