Hazy hot days are just made for simple salads like this Summer Panzanella.

It comes together so easily and is so deliciously full of juicy tomatoes, cooling cukes and zesty red onions. So colorful, light and summery!

But really the stars of the dish are the crunchy homemade croutons! After all, this is a panzanella, or bread salad, in case you’re not exactly familiar with the term.

And oh, what flavor those lovely olive-oil soaked croutons add, along with a ton of chew and crunch!

Plus, they sop up the lemony vinaigrette just right!

And they are super easy to make too. All you do is tear up a crusty baguette, toss those rustic pieces with a little salt, pepper and garlic powder, as well as the aforementioned olive oil, and bake on a sheet pan for about 10 minutes until they’re golden brown and irresistible!

Easy-peasy and done!

The rest of the salad comes together in about 30 seconds (ok, maybe 45) and oh what a reward you get for this smallest of efforts! Every bite is so flavorful and so seasonally right—good for you too!

Lovin’ these summer days! Try it and let me know what you think!

Summer Panzanella

Makes 5-6 servings

Prep Time: Under 30 minutes

Ingredients

For the croutons

• 1 large crusty baguette, preferably day-old

• Couple of pinches of garlic powder, kosher salt and black pepper

• ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

For the salad

• One small red onion, thinly sliced

• 4 mini-cukes, thinly sliced

• About 1 pound grape or cherry tomatoes, halved lengthwise

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

• The juice of 1 lemon

• 2 teaspoons rice vinegar

• Pinch or two of kosher salt and black pepper

• ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese

The Recipe

1. To make the croutons: Preheat oven to 350ºF. Tear 1-inch pieces of bread from the baguette and place them on rimmed baking sheet—you want them to look rustic. Sprinkle on garlic, salt and pepper and toss. Then drizzle on the olive oil and toss to coat well. Spread the cubes into an even layer and bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 4-5 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

2. To make the salad: In a large bowl, toss together the red onion, cukes and tomatoes. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar and salt and pepper. Pour over the veggies and toss well to coat. Toss in the cooled croutons, top with the feta and serve.

3. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. Though this is probably best on the day you make it, I really love how the croutons get softened after sitting around in the vinaigrette for a day or two.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from Olive & Thyme by Melina Davies. I cut the thyme and used garlic powder for the croutons and cut the sumac from the salad and made some other tweaks to the ingredients.