Chocolate Castles as wel

Toasted Bread

1 loaf of 2 day old country Italian or sourdough bread

extra-virgin olive oil

Dressing

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup EVOO

Salt and pepper to taste

Salad

1 container red grape tomatoes, or 4 or 5 vine ripened tomatoes, chopped

1/2 container yellow cherry tomatoes, halved

1 large cucumber, seeded and diced

1 small red onion, diced

1 cup pitted and halved olives or 1/4 cup rinsed capers

chopped fresh basil to taste

chopped fresh parsley to taste

salt, finely ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400. Trip some of the crust from the bread, but not all and then cut into large crouton size pieces. Toss with a little bit of olive oil, spread on a cookie sheet and bake in the  oven until lightly toasted. (approx. 5 to 8 min).

Check every 5 min so the bread doesn’t get overly browned. Remove from oven and let cool.

Whisk together the garlic, red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup EVOO, salt and pepper to make a vinaigrette. Set aside.

In a bowl, gently toss together the bread cubes, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and olives. Season the salad with the fresh basil, fresh parsley, salt and pepper.

Drizzle the vinaigrette over the salad. You may not use all of it/. Toss to coat and then let salad sit for about 20 minutes, so the bread soaks up the dressing.

Taste before serving and add more of the seasonings, if needed.

This recipe is taken from Plano Profile magazine and it will be on our table this week. Sounds perfect for these hot summer days.