Bring on the summer salads!

Carrot Salad

 I love this time of year when it's warm out and I can make a bunch of different dishes and serve them at room temp. This night I did a refreshing French carrot salad, my pesto potato salad and a panzanella with zucchini instead of cucumber (because necessity is the mother of invention and I did not have any cukes!) Since then I have tried it with cucumber and they are both delicious. So make some summer salads because fall is in the air...

French Carrot Salad serves about 4

about a pound of carrots, use multi colored ones if you can and shred them
Dressing: whisk together 1 teaspoon dijon, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, tiny dollop of honey and 1/4 cup olive oil. Toss all together - salt and pepper to taste and add some chopped fresh herbs - I had parsley and chives. Keeps well for a few days.

Trio of Salads

Panzanella

Panzanella (Tomato bread salad) serves about 4

4 thick slices of country style bread (yes, used mine!)
olive oil
3 ripe heirloom tomatoes
handful of cherry tomatoes (if you have them)
1/4 red onion
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1/2 cup olive oil
couple small zucchini or 1 English cucumber

Tear the bread into chunks and toss with a couple tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in one layer on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about 12 min or until browned and crispy - basically you are making croutons. In a large bowl cut the tomatoes in half and squeeze out the seeds and juice into the bowl, then set tomatoes aside and chop into bites. To finish making the "tomato vinaigrette"grate the onion using a micro grater then add vinegar and whisk in the oil, salt and pepper to taste. Thinly slice the zucchini into long ribbons (use a mandoline if you have one) and put in a colander tossing with some salt - let this sit for about 15 min and it will become flexible and drain. If using cucumber thinly slice the same way but skip the salt. Toss bread and zukes (or cukes) with the tomato seed dressing and serve.