Barefoot Bloggers must be feeling the summer heat, because July’s recipe of choice is a virtually no-cook enterprise. I like a no-cook enterprise in the summer.
As I scanned this recipe, though, I got a leeetle bit annoyed. Ina instructs us to choose “good” ingredients not one, not two, but three times. In just a short little recipe.
Ina be boss-y.
I mean, I get what she’s saying–this recipe is so simple that it’s only as good as the ingredients you use. I get it. But seriously, does she think I’m going to look at this recipe and say to myself, “This is a perfect opportunity to use my shitty olive oil! Awesome! And while I’m at it, I’m going to bust out my shitty red wine vinegar, too!”
I’m actually kind of surprised that Miss Ina Bossybritches didn’t insist that I use the “good” feta cheese, too. Luckily for her, I’m psychic or something, because I did use the good feta. Check out the big brain on KitchyWitchy.
Since I am fully incapable of following a recipe to the letter, I tinkered with this one a bit. I didn’t want to bother toasting the bread cubes on the stove, so I tossed the cubes with olive oil, spread them out on a baking sheet, salted them, and toasted them in a 350 degree oven. Depending on how hot your oven runs, this will take you about 10 minutes.
I also decreased the olive oil in the dressing to 1/3 cup; I like my vinaigrettes on the tangy side. Feel free to follow Ina’s lead if you like a traditional vinaigrette.
I threw in some basil, too, because it’s growing like gangbusters in the garden right now. In my opinion, fresh basil makes everything better. I also had a few rogue handfuls of fresh spinach in the refrigerator, so I invited them to the party.
This salad makes a lovely vegetarian lunch or a side dish at dinner. You can also throw some leftover rotisserie chicken in there, if you crave something a little heartier. You really can’t screw this one up. Unless you fail to use good ingredients, you heathens.
Greek Panzanella
recipe courtesy of Ina Garten
serves 6
Good olive oil
1 small French bread or boule, cut into 1-inch cubes (6 cups)
Kosher salt
1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded and sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced into chunks
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and diced into chunks
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, sliced into half rounds
1/2 pound feta cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
For the vinaigrette:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup good red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup good olive oil
Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread cubes and sprinkle with salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently, for 5 to 10 minutes, until nicely browned. Add more olive oil as needed.
Place the cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, tomatoes and red onion in a large bowl.
For the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, oregano, mustard, vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt and the pepper in a small bowl. While still whisking, add the olive oil and make an emulsion. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables. Add the feta, olives, and bread cubes and mix together lightly. Set aside for 30 minutes for the flavors to blend. Serve at room temperature.
{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
oh my gosh, yes, yes to anything with a chilled vinaigrette.
Summer right there….
Thank you!
It looks very pretty, but I don’t think it would be as pretty if you had left out the spinach. That makes it look salady.
This looks like a tasty recipe that I’m gonna have to tinker with myself! Glad you didn’t include the disclaimer about the “good” ingredients! Those kind of recipes just beg to bring out the 2 year old in me!!
This sounds so yummy. If I had all of the ingredients I’d make it right now. Yes, at 9:00 at night.
I love no cook recipe in the summertime too. This is such a great salad! I like the way you did the bread cubes.
Chicken? we all know good mean comes in the form of bacon or sausage. both would be excellent in this recipe. along with wine.
meat- you know what I meant. MEAT
I’m not a feta fan, but this recipe would also be good with (good quality) mozzarella or (good quality) goat cheese, which I have a ton of in the fridge…
Yummy! I love no-cook summertime recipes. But just to clarify… I can use a store brand dijon mustard? ;)
I agree. Fresh basil makes everything better. Love it with vegetables like this.
I need to get back on my bread baking wagon so I will have leftover bread in the house again to make a panzanella. This Greek version looks awesome.
Fresh veg, olive oil and feta? Heaven…
I was beginning to think you had forsaken the Barefoot Bloggers. Glad to see that you haven’t and that you did this one your way!
I used to follow Ina’s show on the Food Network, until her constant urging for us to use “good” ingredients started to bother me – I get it, I get it, stop nagging at me! So I am thrilled to find that you feel the same way here.
In the summer, I’m all about the no-slaving-over-high-heat recipes, and this is a great go-to. Especially since with only 2.5 mouths in our house, it’s hard to finish an entire loaf of bread in one sitting; day-old bread gets thrown into simple recipes like this one to give it fresh new life. Delicious!
Ina annoys me, too. Her attitude is much too prissy for my taste. That salad looks so good, though.
It looks so yummy. I have never eaten feta cheese. What does it taste like? I like most cheeses. Just have never tried this one.
I don’t know that I have ever followed a summer salad recipe. I tend to use whatever is on hand. And if you don’t have good olive oil in your house to start with….
Ina is definitely an ingredient snob. I’m not a Rachael Ray fan, but I do love her take on olive oil: “I just buy whatever’s on sale.” I’ve bought a few duds this way, so there are a couple of brands I steer clear of. But other than that my palate isn’t so persnicketty that I can’t be pretty indiscriminate.
As for the recipe – I used to be a panzanelle junkie and I haven’t had it in ages. Thanks for the reminder!
I checked out a bunch of Ina’s cookbooks from the library and found her use of “good” to be pretty annoying. She should have addressed this in a forward not in the actual recipe. With that said, I do love her cooking. :) I really want to try this. It looks yummy.
I don’t think you are going to be a longtime fan of Ina’s if you think she is a bossy britches. :)
Anyway, I love her regular panzanella salad and make it often. I saw her make the Greek version, but must admit I like the original better. Besides, the best part is the toasted croutons soaking up all that expensive olive oil.
This has all of the makings of a great dish. Because I believe feta, cucumbers, tomatoes and red onion are some of the most delicious things on the planet.
I will have to make this when we get back from our little getaway next week. I should send you my no-lettuce greek salad with chickpeas…kind of along these same lines. We’ve been eating it all summer.
Oh heck, I’m gonna make it with burgers this week. Just remembered I have a huge flat of grape tomatoes I picked up from costco yesterday!
Okay, Kitch. Tell me what makes “good feta” — I know you’ve tasted the real thing. D and I had been wondering before you posted this as he recently bought a block immersed in water from Whole Foods and claims it is particularly salty (I hadn’t been partaking, so no opinion here). This is not the same as what he’d been picking up from Safeway (Athenos brand, no water). What is good feta and where might we find it other than Greece itself?
I found your blog through your comment at URB. I can already tell, YOU are going to be my favorite. I laughed my tuckus nearly into the next galaxy reading your most recent post. (I may be mistaken but I suspect Ina’s tendency to admonish her followers about using good ingredients is something she may have learned from the master bossy-britches, Martha Stewart. ; )
OMG! I needed a good laugh, after such a crappy start this morning. I love Ina’s food. I love her recipes. She’s not exactly the high energy gal to watch. Great call on the “good” ingredient. As if. Love your adaptations, too. I’ve finally realized that I need to drop some pounds. I need to follow your recipes a lot closer. Yours are far healthier than mine have been. I’ve missed not coming here. I should, more often. You do make me laugh.
Ha! Isn’t this the truth? I’d actually love to hear her say, “Go ahead and use the crappy olive oil.”
I have fallen off the cliff of tangy. When making a vinaigrette for myself, I leave out the oil altogether. I love the taste of a flavored vinegar!
This salad looks beautiful and sounds delicious!
Dare I ask why it has to be a hothouse cucumber in the middle of summer?
Sounds good. Definitely not cooking here. Yesterday was 102. Remember that in January when you’re freezing your butt off and wishing you lived somewhere else.
Now that looks perfect for a summer lunch! And I’m with ya, basil makes everything better!
Maybe she says “use good ingredients” because she’s insecure about her recipes. I mean, with good ingredients and a good recipe, something good is bound to result. But with bad ingredients and a bad recipe? She could be seen as a fraud.
CT: “good” feta, to me, is Greek feta. If I’m going to splurge, it’s going to be on the Greek (imported) kind. It’s so much creamier…you won’t believe it.
Mary Lee: A lot of chefs advocate the use of a hothouse cucumber, mainly because they have fewer seeds and very thin skin. However, use any damn cuke you wish (particularly if you have a garden full)–the salad will turn out well no matter which kind you use!
I love feta cheese – when I was pregnant not being able to eat the cheeses I loved, salads with raw egg in and a glass of wine here or there were the things that bugged me, nothing else! So this salad sounds heavenly.
The perfect summer dish! “Shitty olive oil” and “Shitty red wine vinegar?” You crack me up! (And me, sitting here, always and forever wondering if my olive oil IS good enough. Seriously. So many cookbooks mention it I really do agonize over that.)
Thank goodness I don’t have to use good veggies or good bread to make a good salad. Just good olive oil and good vinegar. Good grief I need a good drink to waste my good time chopping a good amount to fiber to block absorption of my good bread.
Good gravy.
I have trouble watching Ina on the Food Network – the way she talks, coupled with the camera angles, coupled with all the butter – makes me annoyed.
After years and years of coming back despite our consistent neglect, our basil finally lost the good fight this season. Sad. We have two teeny-tiny green peppers though. Think I could toss those up with this??
SHUT UP! I actually have these ingredients in my kitchen and my mouth is watering over this. At 5:30 in the morning. Now, if the squirrels have left any of my tomatoes in the garden I might just be eating this for breakfast.
For crying out loud, making something for a recipe is how I get rid of all my bad ingredients! Now what am I supposed to do with it all???
Sounds delicious. I might have to try it, even if it’s so much work chopping and washing and …..
Been wanting to make Panzanella for ages though in the past the idea of soggy bread has put me off but I guess as croutons it would be cool…the cocktail above looks divine too – you’re right…two perfect summer items really…xxx
ROTFL Ina got ina your face didn’t she?
I think I love you…Seriously, what’s not to love about that recipe? Only wish the infernal Florida heat hadn’t claimed my basil and tomatoes…
Made this last Friday and loved it so much we’re making it again tonight. But I was not about to pay $4 for a red pepper, so using green only tonight!
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