Tag Archives: farmers markets

As the weather starts to cool, our latest CHEF recipe provides a great way to enjoy and celebrate those last locally grown tomatoes of the season.  Panzanella salad is a hearty summer salad that features fresh tomatoes, cucumbers and basil. During the summer, when these items are in season and at the peak of their flavor, they can be found at a really good price at local farmers markets.  When we prepared the dish, we chose to substitute half of the regular tomatoes in the recipe with “sun-gold” sweet yellow cherry tomatoes.  These are like the candy of tomatoes, and available from many local growers, making them a special local summer treat, and a healthy one at that! For this recipe, we bought our produce from our local farmers market, the Pittsboro Farmers Market in Chatham County, NC.

The CHEF break-down:

Cheap: We made this Panzanella Salad for $8.88, using produce from our local farmers market, and you can easily serve 4-6 people for this price.

Healthy: This recipe features beans, which are low-fat, a great source of fiber, and when paired with bread, give you a complete protein source.

Easy: No cooking necessary for this recipe! Just chopping and mixing!

Fast: Canned beans are a quick way to add some protein to your meal.  This recipe should take under a half-hour to prepare. 

Panzanella Salad

(adapted from the recipe found in Simple Suppers from the Moosewood Collective)

Ingredients

• 1 small-medium loaf of crusty bread, 3-4 cups once cubed (try to get whole wheat, if you can)
• 4 medium-large tomatoes, or substitute 2 of the tomatoes with a pint of cherry or grape tomatoes
• 1 medium-sized cucumber
• 1 can of great northern or cannellini beans (sometimes companies add lots of salt to their canned beans-check the label and if you can, try to get a brand with a lower sodium content)
• 2 stems of basil or 10-20 basil leaves
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 Tbs. red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. If you have time to plan ahead, cut the bread into 1-2 inch cubes and leave it out over night, lightly covered with a clean dish towel, to dry out.  If not, heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the bread cubes for 5-10 minutes on a cookie sheet.
2. Cut the tomatoes and cucumber into approximately ½ inch cubes and place them in your serving bowl.  Roughly chop the basil and add it to the bowl as well.
3. Open the can of beans, strain and rinse them and add them to the serving bowl.
4. Roughly chop the garlic. Put the olive oil into a small microwave safe bowl (preferably, not plastic), mix in the garlic, and microwave for 10-15 seconds. This will mellow the garlic flavor and quickly infuse the oil with garlic flavor. 
5. Let the oil mixture cool a bit, then whisk in the vinegar and pour this simple vinaigrette over the tomato mixture in the bowl.
6. Add the bread cubes to the bowl and toss to combine.  Add salt and pepper to taste and let stand for at least 10 minutes in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld.

From this foundation, you can dress this salad up in lots of ways:

• Add chopped fresh mozzarella or cubes of reduced fat cheddar cheese
• Add chicken, canned tuna, or chopped hard-boiled egg for an alternate protein source
• Add onion or other chopped fresh herbs such as oregano for more robust flavor

Nutritional Value:

If this dish is split 4 ways, each serving contains approximately

470 calories

9 g. fat

21 g. protein

81 g. carbohydrates