Leafy Panzanella

 

There are days when you just don’t feel like cooking; days when it’s too hot to turn on the oven; and days when you haven’t been shopping and need to use up the remnants of your refrigerator. Yesterday was such a day for me – I arrived home late from a day out; it was still 32 degrees and not a scrap of cool air in the house; and I hadn’t planned anything for a light supper. A quick search from shelf to shelf in my refrigerator revealed a small lettuce, a solitary cooked chicken breast and some tomatoes – it wasn’t looking too promising ….

However I did remember a delicious salad a friend used to make when the purse strings were tight and thought I might be able to rustle up something similar and just as tasty. It’a a Panzanella Salad which has leafy salad as its base but then added croutons or torn bread with extras. I knew I had a little stale ciabatta in the bread bin and a jar of roasted peppers/capsicum in the cupboard, so voila! supper was quickly constructed and enjoyed.

 

Don’t feel duty bound to use the same ingredients as I have – next time I might just replace the chicken with some cheese or deli meat scraps; add some leftover cooked vegetables instead of the roasted jar ones; and add some cold sliced new potatoes instead of the bread – whatever I find and whatever you have ….

 

Let’s hear it for kitchen scraps! They can taste seriously good …

 

LEAFY PANZANELLA

Ingredients

METRIC/US

4 slices stale ciabatta bread (or your bread choice or see above)

225 g/8 oz ripe tomatoes

¼ red onion, finely sliced

200 g/7 oz roasted peppers/capsicum from a jar, drained and chopped

1 roasted skinless and boneless chicken breast

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 mini Romaine or little Gem lettuce

3 tbsp French style dressing (low-fat or fat-free if preferred)

1 small bunch basil, leaves torn (optional)

 

Method

1.  Tear the bread into bite-sized chunks. Chop the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Add the onion and peppers. Shred the chicken into pieces, add to the bowl and season generously to taste.
2.  Toss in the bread chunks and mix well so that the juices combine and start to soak into the bread.
3.  Slice the lettuce into ribbons and add to the salad.
4.  Add the dressing and toss again. Add the basil leaves if using, toss again and serve.

SERVES 2

WLS PORTION: ½-1

 

CALORIES PER PORTION (using fat-free French dressing): 380

PROTEIN: 26.5g

CARBOHYDRATE: 57.2g

FAT: 5.5g

 

Image courtesy of www.makemoreofsalad.com