This is my favorite way to eat tomatoes. Truth is, I really don’t like them. I never have. I was searching for tomato recipes, trying to find some that I actually enjoyed. And when I found this one, I was thrilled — loads of garlic and balsamic flavors. I don’t even remember where I found the recipe to make tomatoes this way, but I started putting them in everything.
And my favorite way to eat these yummy pan-roasted tomatoes was in a panzanella salad.
If you’ve never had a panzanella salad before, get excited! Panzanella means it’s a bread salad. Yum. Huge cubes of toasted bread that soak up whatever dressing or sauce accompanies them.
I used to make a caprese panzanella salad with the tomatoes, basil, bread, and mozzarella.
Here’s my new vegan version: the roasted tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and toasted whole grain bread over a bed of greens with a pesto dressing. Mmmmmm.
Recipe:
serves 2
1 C cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 T olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 C cubes of whole grain french bread
1 C frozen artichoke hearts, thawed (or canned in water, drained)
1 t oil (I love to use the oil from marinated artichokes or sun-dried tomatoes here – lots of flavor in a little bit of oil)
1 T vinegar
2 T vegan pesto
4 C greens of your choice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add tomatoes and until they start to brown and shrivel up a bit. Then add garlic, and saute for about a couple minutes. Add balsamic vinegar just for a couple minutes until the tomatoes form a vinegar-y crust on the bottom. I threw the artichoke hearts in the same pan for a minute after the tomatoes to warm them up and steal some of that garlicky balsamic flavor.
Meanwhile, cube your bread and put it on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 t oil of your choice – I save the oil from marinated artichokes or sun-dried tomatoes solely for this purpose because it’s delicious. Bake in oven until golden brown on edges. Remove from oven and drizzle with vinegar – whatever is your favorite for salad dressing. This is just to add a little more flavor to the salad. My favorite is white balsamic vinegar.
Thin pesto out by mixing with water until it is a pourable dressing consistency.
Assemble your salad – combine all ingredients and toss well.
Nutrition facts: Calories: 282; Calories from Fat: 163; Total Fat: 18.1g; Saturated Fat: 1.8g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 193mg; Total Carbohydrates: 24.1g; Dietary Fiber: 7.5g; Sugars: 4.7g; Protein: 7.3gFor a printable version, click here.
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