Bread Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Olives

This chunky salad has great great flavor and texture.  The bread absorbs the olive oil from the roasted tomatoes.  The red onion makes it a bit tangy and then the splash balsamic vinegar gives just a hint of sweet with just adds to the sweet roasted grape tomatoes.  It’s a perfect way to use up stale-ish bread, but a few times when I wanted to make it I bought fresh baguettes and dried them slightly in a warm oven.

Ingredients

Serves 6-8

1 8oz baguette, cut into ½ inch cubes

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes

1 small red onion, very thinly sliced

8 oz mixed and pitted olives, like calamata and green

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese

¼ flat leaf parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Pick through and rinse tomatoes.  Put tomatoes in an ovenproof dish just big enough to hold them (it’s okay if they are crowded).  Pour enough olive oil (about 1 cup) over tomatoes to cover the bottom of the dish.  Roast for 20-25 minutes until tomatoes begin to collapse and release their juices.  It’s okay if they brown slightly.  Cool completely. 

Toss the bread cubes in a large bowl with cooled tomatoes, onions and olives.  Pour a little more olive oil over bread if it looks to dry.  Sprinkle bread with vinegar and Parmesan toss to combine.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  Season with salt and pepper and mix in parsley right before serving.

It’s All Delicious Notes:  This should be made several hours ahead so the flavors can combine.