Warm Bread Salad Recipes

WARM WINTER BREAD SALAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Tossbread with oil and a pinch of salt.Spread onto a baking sheet,and bake until golden brown andcrisp, about 15 minutes.
• Combine endives, radicchio,lettuce, and frisee in a bowl. Addhazelnuts, bacon, and croutons.Drizzle with half the vinaigrette,and toss well to combine.Add remaining vinaigrette asdesired. Season with salt andpepper. Garnish with cheese.

WARM BREAD SALAD

Steps:

• Place currants in a small dish, add red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon warm water, and set aside. Heat broiler. Place pine nuts in small baking dish, and toast under broiler until very lightly colored. Set aside.
• Cut bread into three or four large chunks. Closely trim off most of the crust and reserve, if desired, to toast and use for bread crumbs or to float in soup. Brush bread all over with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Briefly broil bread chunks, turning until crisp and golden on surface. Remove from oven, trim off any charred tips, and tear chunks into irregular pieces, from 2-inch wads to large crumbs. You should have 4 cups. Place in wide metal, glass or ceramic salad bowl.
• Whisk 1/4 cup olive oil with 1 1/2 tablespoons Champagne vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle 1 1/2 tablespoons of this dressing over bread and toss.
• Place one tablespoon olive oil in a small skillet. Add garlic and scallions, and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until softened but not colored. Add to bread and fold in. Drain currants and fold in. Add pine nuts and fold in. Drizzle salad with stock or water, and fold in. Taste a couple of pieces of bread. Add a little more vinegar, salt and pepper if necessary. Toss well, and transfer to a 4-cup baking dish. Tent lightly with foil. Do not wash salad bowl. Set salad aside until about 30 minutes before serving time.
• Heat oven to 450 degrees. Place bread salad in oven, turn off heat, and leave for 15 minutes. Return salad to bowl. Add greens, remaining vinaigrette, and enough of remaining olive oil so bread is not dry. Toss again. Serve with grilled or roasted meat.

MID-SUMMER ITALIAN BREAD SALAD

Steps:

• Rub a peeled clove of garlic around a wooden salad bowl.
• Pull apart or chop the bread into bite-size pieces.
• In the prepared salad bowl, combine the bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, garlic, basil and thyme. Add enough olive oil and vinegar to lightly coat, toss and serve.

WARM BREAD SALAD

Steps:

• Cut the top third of the bread off and set the parts aside, uncovered, for several hours or overnight. When the bread is somewhat stale, use your hands or a spoon to scrape the bread away from the crusts. Set the larger bottom crusts aside and rip the top crusts into small pieces. Place the pieces, along with the interior bread, in a large bowl and add 2 cups of the stock. Sprinkle the remaining cup of stock over the bread-crust bowls. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a large skillet, melt 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat and add the onions, carrots and celery. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are tender (do not let them brown), 3 to 4 minutes. Add the chicken livers and continue to cook until they are just cooked through, 3 to 5 minutes.
• Add the sherry vinegar and currants to the pan with the livers and cook until the vinegar just evaporates, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the soaked bread, sage, thyme, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.
• Dice the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and dot inside the bottom of the bread bowls with it. Spoon the mixture into the bowls, packing it in and mounding it. Cover the bowls with foil and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, or until they are warmed through. Slice into wedges and serve.

PANZANELLA (BREAD AND TOMATO SALAD)

Steps:

• Chop the tomatoes and combine them in a bowl with the salt. This will draw some of the liquid out of the tomatoes, making a more flavorful dressing for the bread to absorb.
• Toast your bread slices or bake them at 300F for 15 minutes. I ran a regular toast cycle and simply left the bread inside to dry for more time while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.
• In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, vinegar and optional minced garlic.
• Chop your vegetables and add them to the bowl with the tomatoes: cucumber, green pepper, onion. You can dice or slice the onion based on whether you prefer the onion concentrated or spread through the salad.
• Tear or chiffonade the basil leaves (again a matter of personal preference), and add them to the bowl.
• Tear the bread into small chunks and add to the salad bowl. Mix everything to allow the tomato juices to enter the bread. It's fine if the bread chunks are still warm.
• Add the olive oil-vinegar-garlic dressing and optional bread crumbs, and toss again.
• Season with fresh ground black pepper and serve.