Wednesday, June 28, 2006

This Is Bread Salad?

Yes, but you can't call it panzanella. Nothing Italian about it.
It's made with cut-up strawberries, Bing cherries and white peaches, and the bread is a torn-up croissant.
It definitely features the sweetness of the fruit, but it's not dessert.
The fruit was macerated in a splash of good balsamic vinegar (I dragged out the 12-year-old for this) and some decent chardonnay vinegar. I happened to have a bottle of Knudsen's fruit juice concentrate in black cherry, so I dribbled in some of that too, as well as a teensy smidgeline of honey.
(This is not a recipe! This is merely a confession. Or, OK, maybe a boast.)
Anyway, everything was seasoned with black pepper and sea salt (a surprising amount of both), as well as some chopped fresh sage and marjoram.
Close to serving time the torn-up croissant went in, to sop up some flavors.
And finally, each serving got a dollop of crème fraîche.
Two remarks: 1) Really yummy. 2) What else can I do this with?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, that sounds good. Sadly, such things are not on my DIEt.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite things is a fruit and/or berry bruschetta -- the same idea, but much simpler. I applaud your adventurous salad spirit.

Peaches? Nectarines? Pears? Bring 'em on!

Laughingrat said...

Wow, that's really beautiful and interesting. I would never have thought to do that.

cookiecrumb said...

KathyR: So, omit the creme fraiche, and all you've got is fruit and bread. Ever so diet-y.

Kudzu: Yup! In fact, I'm going to explore fusing savory and sweet flavors: a little onion, maybe... some radish...

FOK: And it could be made even more dessert-like, or... ! (BTW, beautiful photography on your site.)

LR: Oh, go on. You might have thought of it. Um. If Cranky told you... Heh.

Anonymous said...

Yum, that sounds delicious. The only other similar dish I've had is a watermelon, bread and feta cheese salad that came out of a greek cookbook. I thought it sounded terrible, but it's really a great combination.

cookiecrumb said...

Laurel: Ding, ding, ding! Watermelon sounds great! Thanks for the idea.

Catherine said...

yum! I'm liking this fruit and savory thing!

Dagny said...

That looks way too yummy. Now I'm going to have to go shopping.

Michelle said...

Boast away, my dear! Now I'm just going to head to the grocery store and steal your recipe... Sounds amazing!! Oh, and I don't know if "croissants" could be considered "diet-y"! ha ha ha.

BTW...you and cranky are adoreable in your "victorian" and I'm glad you kept your sailor's mouth and wild streak all these 25 years. Happy Silver!

Amy Sherman said...

Mmmm kind of summer puddingish. Your description is mouth-watering.

cookiecrumb said...

Amy! [scrapes jaw up off floor] You nailed it. Huh! Didn't even think of that.
(Cranky's out buying a watermelon and some feta and a white onion for the next version, even as we speak.)

Cate said...

Oh man, does that sound good! Delish...