Panzanella Bread Salad

This salad makes me happy. Super duper happy. Like, smile-from-ear-to-ear kinda happy. I first had it in Seattle at Erins house...Gordon whipped it up in about 2 minutes!! I don't remember the exact recipe that he used, but this is my spin on it (and I encourage you to put your own twist on it too...add tomatoes, peppers, artichokes... whatever!). This is a traditional Italian recipe, used to finish up a loaf of day-old bread.

Ingredients:
- bread with thick crust
- romaine lettuce
- 12 scallions
- EV Olive Oil
- good quality Balsamic Vinegar
- salt and pepper

I cut the bread into 1 1/2" slices. I figure on one slice of bread for each person (5ppl, 5slices). You're supposed to grill the bread and scallions, but im lazy so I just drizzles them with olive oil, dusting of salt and pepp, then put them under the broiler in the oven (turning once). Also, since I didn't grill- I added a sprinkling of smoked paprika to the bread. (If a grill is easily accessible, I recommend using it!). The bread only needs a minute on each side, and the scallions will take about 2 on each side. Dice the bread up into large bite sized pieces. It's going to seem like the romaine and bread are equal parts...this is good. Then throw on the grilled scallions, that have been chopped into large bits. Drizzle with a good amount of EV olive oil and balsamic, dash of salt and pepper. Let it sit for about 15minutes before you eat it, so that the bread gets to soak up all of the yumminess. Like I said- make this your own! I'm a whore for kalamata olives, so ofcourse I added a huge handful to this salad before serving!! ENJOY! this salad is EPIC.