Panzanella - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 loaf of good-quality bread (try sourdough, or rustic artisan breads)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon minced shallot
2 large tomatoes, roughly diced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 English cucumber, roughly diced
1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
6 -8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, roughly diced
salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

Tear bread loaf into large bite-size chunks. Preheat oven to 400\u00b0F.
Finely mince garlic, and saute briefly, about 1 -2 minutes in olive oil over medium heat. Set aside until cool.
Toss bread chunks with 2 tablespoons cooled garlic olive oil, place on a baking sheet and bake in oven until lightly browned and toasted, about 8 minutes, turning at least once.
Combine remaining olive oil with vinegar, shallot, salt and pepper, mix well.
In a large bowl, toss toasted bread, tomatoes, onion, cucumber and cheese with oil/vinegar mixture and basil.
Set aside for flavors to meld for half an hour before serving.