Salad Nights

For the 4th of July, Sean was jonesing for chicken salad. That's my man! I like it too, and it seemed like a great idea. And what better to go with chicken salad than bread salad?

We had a Pinot Grigio with our salads. While we are BIG Italian white wine fans, we haven't been overly bowled over by P. G. Maybe if they made a PG-13, but probably not. We find it a highly serviceable wine, totally unoffensive and overwhelmingly unremarkable. We had it, and we're fine, but there are so many wonderful Italian whites. The WSJ wine index has an article out today about non-Grigio Italian whites and you'll have to hold us back to not buy some of them. We felt bad about not drinking a domestic wine on the 4th, but got over it when we realized the bread salad was Italian.

Anyhoo, chicken salad is a southern staple. We rig it every time. Sometimes with grapes and such, sometimes not. This one was pretty standard so as not to mess with wine. But now we're getting to recipes that we more or less make up, so the science is not exact.

Chicken Salad

Chicken, torn up after cooking (Cook it how you like, grilled is great but we have no grill, poaching is fine, but take note how you poach it: Poach it in chicken stock, and throw in some aromatics like celery and carrots and peppercorns and bay leaves.

Celery, sliced really cool on the bias, or chopped

Pecans, toasted and crunched up a bit

water chestnuts, chopped

sour cream/mayo, which ever you need (we are a mayo-hating household)

salt and pepper, of course

parsley, chopped

Just mix it all up as dry or wet as you like. Often we put sliced red grapes and walnuts in it, which is yumms as well. I've even whacked it way out and twisted it like one of our favorite Pretentious Salads which I have yet to include. Truly anything goes but possum. And we're in Texas, too.

Bread salad is a hard sell. It's a Tuscan dish, probably made primarily in the summer. I have 2 different recipes of it from a cookbook called Italian Intermezzo, by Sharon O' Connor, along with a nice collection of dinner music. I think she has a few cookbooks out with music cds. I adapted our bread salad from her 2 recipes. The idea was great, but I think I'll tweak it differently next time. The one pictured is more like the first one.

Savory Bread Salad (1)

(Panzanella)

1 loaf day-old Italian or French bread, crusts removed, sliced

3 tomatoes, peeled/seeded/chopped in 1/2 in. chunks

1 red onion, thinly sliced and omitted because of Sean

1/2 small cucumber,thinly sliced

1/3 c. olive oil

S&P

1/2 coarsely chopped fresh basil, plus more for garnish

2 T. red wine vinegar

Put bread slices in a med. bowl and add cold water to cover. Soak for 10 minutes or until bread is spongy. Using your hands, gently squeeze out all the water. Rub bread between your palms to make coarse crumbs.

In a large bowl, combine the bread crumbs with everything else but the vinegar, and set aside for at least 30 minutes, room temp. Just before serving, toss with the vinegar and extra oil.

Bread Salad (2)
(Panzanella Toscana)

1 day old ciabatta loaf, crust trimmed, 3/4 in. dice

2-3 med. tomatoes, or 5-6 Roma tomatoes, peeled, halved

1 garlic clove crushed to paste with a bit of salt

1/3 c. oil

4 t. red wine vinegar (3 for the dressing, 1 for the capers)

2 T. capers (soaked in 1 t. of the vinegar, then drained again)

1/4 brine-cured black olives (please save the canned ones for your garbage disposals)
1 each, red and yellow bell pepper, roasted, peeled, cut in strips

3 anchovy fillets, chopped (and omitted for KK)

1/2 c. chopped fresh basil leaves

Put all the bread in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, squeeze the tomatoes (to seed them) through a sieve and retain juice. Stir in the garlic paste, and salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil (1/3 c. if you can handle it) and 3 t. of the red wine vinegar. Pour over the bread and toss until all liquid is absorbed. If the bread is still too dry, add more oil.

In a serving bowl, you will be making 3 layers of all of this stuff. One layer should involve bread,then peppers, then tomatoes (which you have now chopped), capers, anchovies, olives and basil. You need 3 of these. Set your concoction aside, room temperature, for at least 1 hr. Drizzle with oil, good oil, when you serve.