Grilled Panzanella

October 27, 2014 Corrie Anderson

THE GRATEFUL PLATE SERIES - #3

The sun has started setting earlier and earlier. There is a crispness in the air. The leaves have only just begun turning colors and everything that can be flavored is coming out with something Pumpkin Spice flavored.

Soon enough, I will have to say goodbye to most of my plants until next spring. Waaaaaaahhhh.

The mailman, UPS, Fedex, our dogs, and probably most of our neighbors are all secretly cheering for the disappearance of the tiny jungle I’ve amassed in front of our house and on the steps leading to our front door.

We live in a row of townhouses, so I pretty much use every square inch we have and even still, we run over at least one plant a week. I just ran over the oregano I brought back to life and I’m pretty ticked off at myself.

At the moment, my tomato plants are still producing. I was just outside, and noticed one of them is going crazy! There are so many green tomatoes about to ripen, it looks like a bunch of grapes! You can't even see them all in this photo, but there are definitely more than 16 tomatoes on this plant!

To commemorate the end of the growing season, I wanted to share our favorite recipe from this summer. This is also the third item in The Grateful Plate series, and if you were a guest in our home, it would be an honor to serve you the last tomatoes and herbs from my humble container plants for lunch! (Find out more about The Grateful Plate series here!)

This recipe is super easy and quick, the herb sauce can be made ahead which is nice if you are serving this at a dinner party or BBQ!

You should make this before fresh tomatoes and herbs are obsolete! Take a picture of your lovely creation and use the hashtag #itsallofit and tag me @corrielanderson on Instagram!

Grilled Sourdough Panzanella

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Recipe Type: Entrée or Side

Cuisine: Vegetarian

Serves: 4 – Entrée, 6 – 8 Side

Printable recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

1 - 2 cups of fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, sage, parsley)
2/3-cup olive oil
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
1 large shallot, chopped
kosher salt and ground pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
3 pounds ripe tomatoes, preferably a mix of different varieties!
4 – 5 pieces of sourdough bread
1 garlic clove, halved

OPTIONAL: Pistachios!!!

INSTRUCTIONS:

Throw fresh herbs, 1/2-cup olive oil, the zest and juice of one lemon, shallot, and the seeded jalapeño into a food processor. Pulse until there are tiny specks of herbs left. Add salt and pepper to your liking.
Slice the tomatoes into a variety of sizes and toss them into a bowl. Pour the herb sauce onto the tomatoes; at this point you can let them soak until the bread has been grilled.
Preheat gas grill to high or plug in your Panini maker! Brush 1/3 cup of the olive oil onto each side of the sliced bread and grill until they are charred in some spots. Once grilled, rub each side with the cut sides garlic cloves.
Slice or tear bread up into smaller pieces. Mix the bread and any leftover herbs in with the tomato mixture, and serve!

*Optional: Sprinkle pistachios on top before serving!

Serving Size: 1 Calories: 271 Fat: 19 g Saturated Fat: 2 g Carbohydrates: 23 g Sugar: 6 g Sodium: 785 mg Fiber: 5 g Protein: 5 g