Went to Bistro Don Giovanni in Napa today for lunch. This is my friend Stephanie's "Blondie Mary" - a Bloody Mary made with yellow tomatoes in a salt & pepper rimmed glass topped with two little tomatoes. And so started my day of tomato lovin'.
We started with a fantastic bruschetta, followed by their tomato and rustic bread soup...both fantastic. I should have stopped there, but becasue I ignored my "eat breaksfast" rule in lieu of the snooze button this morning, I was pretty hungry (I warned me about that!), so I also had a little one-on-one time with their mushroom risotto. Just writing about it makes me full all over again.
Although I swore to never eat again, dinner time did rear its ugly head. I decided to keep it light and make my favorite summer salad, the Panzanella. There are a million variations of this salad, but they all start with bread and tomatoes. I use sourdough baguette cubes sauteed in a small amount of olive oil and salt (about 5-8 minutes). A couple minutes before the bread is done, I add a handful of sliced red onion to the same skillet. In a bowl, toss the bread, onion, a couple of juicy heirloom tomatoes cut in cubes, basil, capers and mozzarella. When you are ready to eat drizzle with lemon-infused olive oil and balsamic. The bread soaks up the vinegar and oil, so don't dress it early.
The Panzanella salad was born of necessity, in a time when nothing was wasted (what else do you do with stale bread?), and often included lots of vegetables and other ingredients. So give it a try and put your own spin on it...
