TUSCAN BREAD SALAD WITH FRESH MOZZARELLA AND BASIL

TUSCAN BREAD SALAD WITH FRESH MOZZARELLA AND BASIL image

Yield 4 People

Number Of Ingredients 27

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Ingredients

For the mustard vinaigrette
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced shallots
½ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
½ teaspoon minced garlic
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the salad
4 slices rustic bread, 1 inch thick
Extra virgin olive oil
24 good black olives, preferably oil-cured
½ pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half, or 5 ripe Roma tomatoes cut into eighths
6 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced
4 cups loosely packed flavorful salad greens, washed, dried, stems trimmed, and torn into pieces if large
1 tablespoon pesto or ½ cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup pine nuts toasted
4 lemon wedges
Freshly ground black pepper
Pesto
3 cups loosely packed fresh basil, washed and dried
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
½ teaspoon minced garlic
½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt

Steps:

1. To make the vinaigrette, combine the vinegar, mustard, shallots, thyme, and garlic in a bowl. Slowly whisk in the oil in a steady stream until the dressing emulsifies. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside. 2. Fire up the grill. Liberally brush both sides of the bread with oil. Grill the bread on both sides until golden and nicely marked by the grill. Remove the bread from the heat and use a serrated knife to cut the bread into bit-size cubes. Put the bread in a serving bowl with the olives, tomatoes, mozzarella, and greens. Whisk the pesto or basil leaves into the vinaigrette. Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss well. There should be enough vinaigrette to soak into the bread, but the salad greens should not be drenched - use a little more or less vinaigrette as needed. On the plate Divide the salad among 4 plates. Scatter the Parmesan cheese and pine nuts over the top of each salad and garnish each salad with a lemon wedge. Pass a pepper grinder at the table. A step ahead The vinaigrette can be prepared and stored, tightly covered, in the refrigerator up to a week ahead. Whisk well before using. Process the basil, pine nuts, garlic and lemon juice together in a food processor until smooth. Slowly add the olive oil though the feed tube and process until well combined. Season with salt to taste. Use the pesto the same day or freeze for the best color. Notes There's no Parmesan in this pesto because there's already freshly grated cheese in the Tuscan bread salad. You can add a few tablespoons of freshly grated parmesan to the pesto if using it in another dish. Since the bread salad calls for only a tablespoon of pesto, make a batch anytime, divide it up into small portions, and freeze them, thawing only what you need. A handy way to do this is to spoon the pesto into a plastic ice cube tray, freeze, and then store the cubes in a plastic bag in the freezer until ready to use.