Category Archives: Farmers Market
Bread Salad Anyone?
Another one of my favorite salads, year round, is bread salad. If you haven’t had it before, you might think it sounds either boring or disgusting. It’s not either. It’s certainly not for anyone on a low-carb diet.
I actually have several different bread salad recipes that I make. A couple use homemade croutons from a good loaf of bread. There’s one with Tuscan flavors and the one with Mexican flavors. I also make a Middle Eastern bread salad called Fatoosh with toasted pita bread.
I first discovered my favorite bread salad recipe in a Rick Bayless cookbook. The way I make it most often now still bears a resemblance to the original recipe with my own touches. His recipe used a Caesar dressing with croutons, tomatoes, scallions, olives, and cilantro, which I still use, but I make an eggless dressing, left out the cheese, and add a avocado when I have one.
This is another salad that is flexible about its ingredients. I had leftover dressing from a batch made earlier in the week, but I was out of some of the ingredients I like to use. What I did have were fresh green beans, so I cut about ¼ pound of the beans into 1-inch pieces, cooked them, and mixed them in. The beans gave the salad great color. I also threw in a handful of toasted pumpkins seeds. You can also substitute chopped onion for the scallions, if you prefer.
My favorite local bread to make the croutons from would be a Francese from Iggy’s Bread of the World. I don’t bother cutting off the crust. I make fairly large croutons, ¾ to 1 inch cubes. In the evening, I’ll cut up a whole loaf and toast the cubes in a 350F oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are just slightly brown. Then I’ll turn off the oven and leave it overnight. They turn out just right. If you plan to use them right after toasting, they probably need to bake for 10 to 15 minutes instead.
While this salad is best in the summer when ripe local tomatoes are available, I’ve made it successfully with a carton of grape tomatoes in the off season.
One other thing to keep in mind… Only make as much as you are going to eat right away. This salad does not keep until the next day. The bread gets too soggy, and it just doesn’t look or taste very nice. However, for just Howard and me, I simply halve the recipe and make it a few nights in a row.
Give it a try. You won’t be disappointed.
Mexican Caesar Bread Salad
Serves 4
Caesar Dressing:
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 6 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
4-5 cups croutons (¾ to 1-inch cubes)
1 large tomato, diced
½ cup Kalamata olives, quartered lengthwise
2 scallions, sliced
1 avocado, diced (optional)
Chopped cilantro leaves
To make the dressing, place all the dressing ingredients in the blender and combine until smooth.
To make the salad, put the remaining ingredients in a very large bowl. Toss gently to combine. Add enough dressing to coat all ingredients well. You might not use all of the dressing.
Let it sit about 10 minutes before serving so the bread can soften up a bit.
Sour Cherry Season
Howard found sour cherries at the Charlton Orchards tent at the Lexington Farmers Market this week. Time for our annual summer cherry tart. Yum!
Cherries and almonds go so well together that I usually make my tart with a crumbly topping with almonds and almond paste. I was out of almond paste and didn’t want to run to the store. Instead, I took inspiration from this post on cherries from Dorie Greenspan. I made a variation of her crumble topping, using pistachios and cardamom, as the Pierre Hermé tart pictured in her post.
Howard and I shared the work of pitting the cherries. I make a tart instead of a pie, so a quart of cherries will fill the shell adequately. We have a cherry pitter, but it seems like the pits never fit through the hole, so working with a knife goes much faster. Between the two of us, the job went quickly and companionably.
The evening was a little hot for baking, but it was worth heating up the kitchen for a little while.
Sour Cherry Pie with Pistachio and Cardamom Topping
Pastry for a 9-inch pastry shell
Pistachio and Cardamom Crumble Topping (see below)
2 cups pitted sour cherries (1 quart unpitted)
1½ Tbsp sugar
½ Tbsp instant tapioca
Roll out the pastry and place in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. I fold the overhang back into the pan and press to the sides to strengthen the shell. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
Butter a piece of foil or parchment paper, and place, buttered side down, in the chilled shell. Fill the foil with beans or other pie weights. (I keep a large jar of dried white beans that I use as pie weights. Once they cool, I put them back in the jar and reuse them.)
Bake in a preheated 450F oven for 15 minutes. Remove the foil liner. Prick the bottom again if it has puffed up. Bake 10 more minutes without the foil, until lightly golden.
Reduce oven temperature to 375F.
Combine the cherries, sugar, tapioca, and ½ cup crumble topping. Fill the tart shell with the cherry mixture. Sprinkle the remaining crumble on top.
Bake for 30 minutes until topping is lightly brown and filling is bubbly.
Pistachio and Cardamom Crumble Topping
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
- ½ c flour
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ c packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 c sugar
- 7 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
- ½ c pistachios
In the food processor, pulse together all the ingredients except the pistachios until coarse crumbs form. Transfer to a bowl, and stir in the pistachios. You can make this a day or two ahead. Just put the topping in a covered container and store in the refrigerator.
Put all the ingredients, except the pistachios, in a food processor and pulse just until the mixture forms curds and clumps and holds together when pressed. Add the pistachios, pulse a couple of times and, if you’re not ready to make the crumble, turn the mixture out into a bowl, cover and chill until needed.
A Plateful of Happiness 