Crouton Salad

Okay, who doesn’t love homemade croutons? I think when I was younger, croutons may have been the only value I saw in a salad. However, I quickly realized they really aren’t the point of a salad. However, sometimes I find myself with some leftover slices of bread in the fridge, in the recipe below it was a hearty whole grain bread. In a matter of minutes, I transformed these last few slices of dried out nutty bread into the focus of this salad. And let me tell you, from the freshly roasted garlic to the crunch of these little morsels, they transformed what was going to be a pretty ordinary ‘use what’s in the fridge and needs to get used up’ salad.

Crouton Salad

Special Note: This salad is best eaten once freshly made. Do not plan for leftovers. Because of the ‘finishing salt’ on these croutons, once mixed into the salad, the salt draws the moisture out of the vegetables leaving any leftovers watery and mushy.

Ingredients:

• 3c Lettuce of some kind (I used some romaine and fresh spinach I had on hand)

• handful of cherry tomatoes

• 1/2 english cucumber

• 11/2c leftover pasta (i used leftover precooked farafelle (bow tie shaped), chopped up)

• 6 new potatoes (cooked and cooled)

• 1/4c shaved Parmesan

• NOTE: these all happened to be ingredients I had on hand that needed to be used that I believed would go well with croutons and a homemade Caesar-like dressing.

• For Croutons: 6 slices leftover stale bread, 1/4c olive oil and 2 medium size heads of garlic

• For Caesar-Like Dressing:

  • 1/4c mild olive oil

  • Juice of 1 lemon

  • 3 dashs Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce

  • 1 tbsp maple syrup (to taste, depends on bitterness of the lemon)

  • 1 tbsp dijon mustard

  • Sprinkle of Kosher salt (remember, kosher salt isn’t as salty tasting as table salt)

Instructions:

1. Making Croutons: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add olive oil and crushed heads of garlic. Whisk to combine.

3. Slice bread into desired crouton size (we like ours on the smaller side). Add to the bowl, toss to coat with garlic-Olive oil. Sprinkle with Kosher salt.

4. Spread evenly on a rimmed non-stick cookie sheet. Set aside the mixing bowl that is now seasoned with the garlic and olive oil for making the Caesar like salad dressing.

5. Place in oven and set timer for 1 minute. These might need a little more time to turn golden brown but it’s better to keep a close eye on them because once the turn from golden to ‘blackened’ (a matter of seconds) they become bitter and inedible.

6. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

7. Making the Caesar-like dressing: Combine all of the dressing ingredients listed above in the set aside mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.

8. Assembling the salad: Add all the salad ingredients noted above to the above bowl. Note: many of the ingredients noted above found there way into this salad because I had some odds and ends leftover in my fridge. The sky is the limit on what you add here. Have fun and be creative.

9. Add the croutons.

10. Toss to combine and serve immediately.