Bread Salad with Cherries, Arugula and Goat Cheese
This isn’t so much a recipe as a formula, the kind of thing you bang together on a summer day when you happen to have some ripe cherries and a hunk of chewy, day-old artisan bread.
Excerpted from A Homemade Life, copyright 2009 by Molly Wizenberg, courtesy Simon & Schuster
| Servings |
| 2main courses, or 4 appetizers |
| Servings |
| 2main courses, or 4 appetizers |
Ingredients
- 6 oz rustic white bread preferably day-old
- olive oil
- 1/2 lb cherries preferably Bing, halved and pitted
- 1/8 tsp garlic pressed or crushed
- balsamic vinegar
- salt
- arugula
- fresh goat cheese such as Laura Chenel, coarsely crumbled
- black pepper
Servings: main courses, or 4 appetizers
Units:
|
Ingredients
Servings: main courses, or 4 appetizers
Units:
|
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Using a sharp knife, trim the crust from the bread, and discard the crust. Tear the bread into rough bite-sized pieces. You should have about 4 loosely packed cups' worth (about 1 L). Dump the bread out onto a rimmed baking sheet, and drizzle it with olive oil. Toss to coat. Don't worry if the pieces aren't evenly oiled; that's okay. Bake until crispy and golden in spots, shaking the pan once, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, put about one-third of the cherries in a small bowl, and crush them lightly with a fork, so that they release their juices. You don't want to mash them completely; just smash them a bit.
- When the bread is nicely toasted, turn it out into a large bowl. While it is still hot, add the garlic, and toss well. Set aside to cool for a minute or two. Then add the cherries, both the smashed ones and the not-smashed ones, and toss. Add 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar and toss again. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch or two of salt and toss again.
- Taste, and adjust the vinegar, oil, and salt as needed: if you taste the bread and the cherries separately, they should each taste good alone. When you're satisfied with the flavour, add about 2 handfuls of arugula and toss one last time. Finish with a generous amount of crumbled goat cheese and a few grinds of the pepper mill, and serve.
