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If you enjoy fresh herbs, you will love this Garden Herb Panzanella. It’s adapted from a lentil tapenade dip recipe I found in Sara Forte’s Bowl and Spoon Cookbook. I used to make the tapenade and serve it with homemade crostinis. However, I found that I really just wanted to eat it by the spoonful. In the end, I just tweaked the ingredients a bit and started chopping my crostinis into croutons and tossing them in the bowl. You can serve this salad as a light summer entree salad or pair it with grilled fish, chicken, or meat. A perfect dish for dining alfresco!
Looking for more salad recipes? Try this warm shrimp salad!
Notes on Garden Herb Panzanella
So I’m not sure if I can really call this salad a Panzanella since it doesn’t contain tomatoes – but I’m going to anyway. I’m also opting to use toasted croutons rather than hard day-old bread (but that might work out too).
I used ciabatta bread because I had some on hand and I think it works well but french bread and sourdough would work well too. You can cut the bread into crostini shapes (and crumble them after they’re baked) or just go ahead and make croutons. I prefer the first option – crostini’s are easier to cut and turn. I usually make extra too – they will keep for a week or so and we go through lots of crostinis in the summer. Looking for another crostini use? Try this bruschetta recipe!
I generally use champagne vinegar for this dish but white balsamic is also great. You can use red balsamic too but it will change the coloring a bit.
Suggested Pairings for Garden Herb Panzanella
This salad works well with grilled meats – white fish, chicken, and steak are all good options. For wine, fresh herbs like basil and dill generally pair better with a crisp white like sauvignon blanc or rose (but I served pinot noir).
Garden Herb Panzanella
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 20
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Salad
Description
This salad is soooo good. Pair it with grilled fish, chicken, or steak.
Ingredients
Ciabatta Crostini
- 4 to 6 slices of ciabatta bread, about ½ inch thick
- olive oil for drizzling
- sea salt
Salad
- 1 large cucumber peeled, seeded, and diced
- 1 cup cooked black lentils
- ½ cup klamata olives, diced
- ⅓ cup red onion, minced
- chopped fresh basil, about ⅓ cup
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, about 3 tbsp
- chopped fresh dill, about 2 tbsp
- 2 tbsp good quality olive oil
- 1.5 tbsp white balsamic vinegar or champagne vinegar
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- juice of ½ lemon (optional)
Instructions
Ciabatta Crostini
- Pre-heat oven to 350
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and arrange crostinis
- Drizzle with olive oil. Push the crostinis around and turn to spread the oil. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake for 15 to 25 minutes turning once.
Salad Instructions
- Combine the chopped veggies, lentils, olives, and herbs in medium bowl. Add the vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Stir to combine.
- Crumble your crostinis into bite size pieces (you should have approx. 1 to 11/2 cups). Add pieces to salad and toss.*
- Squeeze lemon juice over and toss again (if using).
Notes
*If you make this salad in advance, wait to add the crostini croutons until serving time.
Avoiding carbs? Replace the crostini croutons with 1 can chopped hearts of palm!
Keywords: salad, herbs, panzanella
