Watermelon, cucumber, and heirloom tomatoes are tossed with a lemony vinaigrette, toasted cornbread cubes, and arugula to make a hearty summer panzanella.
I ate salad for lunch EVERY DAY LAST WEEK.
And no one even gave me a crown or cookie or cash reward or anything.
What’s that about?
In fact, the.boy even had the audacity to question the fact that I was pondering having a second brownie yesterday.
The last time I checked, (a) it was Sunday a.k.a the weekend a.k.a calories-don’t-count-day and (b) there is no law against thinking about excessive brownie consumption (though NYC’s former Mayor Bloomberg probably tried to pass one).
And doesn’t he realize what a picture of salad-a-day perfection I was last week?
Phooey on him.
I know I kind of like to play the martyr, but between us, though?
The whole salad a day thing was pretty not hard.
Like, at all.
Did I mention that there were croutons?
And watermelon and feta and croutons and the cutest baby heirloom tomatoes you ever did see?
And a subtly spicy lemon aleppo pepper dressing and balsamic syrup glaze?
And more croutons?
I am honestly not really much of a crouton junkie, but pesto+cornbread crunch+beer bread has certain powers of persuasion that other carb varietals just don’t have.
And yes, I understand that it takes a certain kind of crazy to make a loaf of bread solely to let it get semi-stale and toasty so that it can soak up dressing/tomato/watermelon juices better.
Crazy, but worth it.
Because, THESE CROUTONS.
You guys.
So, salad-a-day! FTW!
Though I still won’t say no to a cookie reward at the end of the week.
Hint hint.
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 2¼ cup all purpose flour
- 2½ tbsp granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1½ tsp salt
- 12 oz beer
- ¼ cup pesto
- ½ cup unsalted melted butter, divided
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 1 loaf pesto cornbread (or any cornbread!), cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 cucumber, seeded and cut into ½-inch dice
- 1 lb baby heirloom tomatoes, quartered
- 1½ lb seedless watermelon, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 6 oz feta, crumbled
- 5 oz arugula
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp aleppo pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt, to taste
- balsamic glaze, to drizzle
- For the cornbread, heat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.
- Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Pour in the beer, pesto, and ¼ cup melted butter. Stir to combine, until the dough just comes together. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan.
- Pour the remaining butter over the dough and sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let cool completely.
- Raise the oven temperature to 400. Cut the loaf into cubes and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until toasted. Let cool while you prepare the salad.
- In a large bowl, toss together the cucumber, heirloom tomatoes, watermelon, and feta.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, aleppo pepper, olive oil, and salt, to taste.
- Toss the fruit and veggie mix with the dressing, bread cubes, and arugula. Serve immediately, drizzled with balsamic glaze.
For more summer panzanella recipes, check out these:
Cornbread and Black Bean Panzanella
Kale Salad with Peaches, Corn and Honey-Basil Vinaigrette
From Around the Web:
Chickpea, Spring Onion and Tuscan Kale Salad from The First Mess
California Dreamin’ Panzanella from Bittersweet Blog
Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella Panzanella from Kitchen Joy
Cherry Kale Panzanella from Jelly Toast
Roasted Ratatouille Panzanella from The Veg Life
I’m so loving the theory that Sundays are calories-don’t-count-day! I had like three ham and feta muffins yesterday with some major butter action going on … phew!
This salad looks so pretty – I’m thinking that balsamic glaze just brought all the flavours together nicely.
Nice! I hope you get a copy of Salad Samurai because those salads are all pieces of gastronomic art.
If I could eat THIS salad every day I’d be very happy! And you do deserve a reward, a second brownie is just the start.
Love watermelon and feta! Awesome looking salad with some of my favorite summer flavors and ingredients.
Way to go on your salad challenge!! You rock. Cheers to many more amazeballs creations! I’m trying this one. Stat!
PESTO cornbread?! Fabulous! Many kudos on your salad-a-day week! If it’s any consolation, I feel like a cash reward/pat on the back/cookie is well deserved 🙂
I had two birthdays to celebrate over the last few days + one of them was on Sunday. So, that means that calories double don’t count, right? Almost like negative calories? Yes. My thoughts exactly, so I’m glad I had cake for breakfast AND as a bedtime snack. This salad sounds so good. I’m a little offended that you disrespected my BFF, croutons, by saying you’re normally just not that into them. I’ll only forgive you if you make a me a bowl of this salad. Extra balsamic drizzle, please.
Panzanella salads are so classic! I’m making one tonight with roasted turkey and I may throw in some pesto, now that I saw this!!
I love that you added watermelon in here. . brilliant!
Pesto cornbread?! This is most definitely the best panzanella EVER.
My favorite! Love a good panzanella in the summer time.
Panzanella salad is my favourite of all salads because it has BREAD. Well, I am carb. addictive.
THIS is heaven in a bowl! I love your spin on one of my favorite summer salads.
Is this just crazy? I just made panzanella and posted it on Saturday! I just love panzanella! Your croutons sound amazing!!!
Roz
You definitely deserve a reward for a salad a day -ALL of last week – but if I had to eat this salad EVERYDAY, i won’t be complaining! 🙂
I’m usually not super adventurous when it comes to salads, but this sounds too good not to try… plus anytime homemade croutons are involved – I’m there.
You had me at pesto cornbread! Summer isn’t complete without panzanella and I’m totally digging this version!
what a gorgeous salad! i love it!!
I need to do a salad a day week! This sounds like summer on a plate 🙂
Absolutely gorgeous, I would gobble this up!
Pesto cornbread is a thing? How did I not know this!
Eating delicious salads every day is kind of reward in itself!
Oh gosh I had SO many salads this week too! I really do need a reward. This panzanella looks amazing and uh HELLO croutons? Always.
There’s something about panzanella that’s just so amazing, and I love what you’ve done with this one! Those cornbread croutons look delicious – I would be having salad every day for a month if I had a lot of those!!
I could definitely eat a salad a day if they were all as interesting as this one!
Totally feeling this pesto cornbread! Would be a perfect match with just about anything! 😉
This looks delicious! Also, the entire weekend should be no-calorie-counting days 🙂
A salad a day sounds like heaven to me. So perfect, especially for hot summer days. And speaking of things that are perfect for hot summer days, this salad sounds wonderful! Watermelon for the win!
What a unique salad Joanne, looks wonderful, love this combination.
LOVE the pesto cornbread, that is a great idea 😀
Delicious looking salad!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Its not the same with cornbread, but nevertheless we are willing to try it! Sounds delish! 🙂
Good on you for eating salad every day for a week. I would have given you a medal. I love the look of your croutons xx
I’m thinking I need to hop on board this salad-a-day thing. I am seriously salivating over this gorgeous salad right now. Those cornbread croutons….I can’t even….
And obviously watermelon + feta = I die.
Pinned! 🙂
Oh, this will easily bring out my inner crouton-junkie easy! Looks like a wonderful combination…no wonder it wasn’t too much of a hardship having all those salads for lunch.
Those croutons would have me eating salads for every meal! They sound amazeballs! So does the dressing! You definitely deserve an extra brownie! And a cookie too. 😉
These cornbread croutons do look like the best ever. Like so good. And I love the Sunday-calories-don’t-count – that’ll be cake day around here then 🙂
I love every part of this salad! From the cornbread croutons to the balsamic drizzle and Aleppo pepper dressing (say what?!) along with feta, the most perfect salad cheese ever. This is such an amazing lunch dish!
This looks awesome! I haven`t had a salad in so longggg. This recipe would make a great salad comeback for me!
Yay, way to go on the salad a day,Joanne! I love salads and definitely have one a day because that totally means I can save room for cookies, cake and brownies 🙂 So I definitely think you deserve that second brownie 🙂 This salad is definitely one that I would look forward to having everyday, it looks fantastic!
this sounds absolutely amazing. I want it. for lunch today, can you make that happen? 🙂
If I order a salad out, I always tell them to leave off the croutons but your pesto cornbread croutons sound terrific with your salad.
There are so many wonderful amazing things going on in this salad!! But, really you had me at pesto cornbread! You come up with such creative recipes and this one is no different! I want a huge bowl if this right now 🙂
I know that I could eat this salad everyday. It looks delicious.
I LOVE the idea of a cornbread crouton! That sounds so good! The tomatoes are gorgeous. They’ve been so good this year.
Oh no, I’m such a crouton junkie. Croutons are the only reason I eat salad, I think. I know that sounds bad, but how can you resist croutons? Especially cornbread pesto croutons! Yum!
I’m a salad girl – I have one every day, too – with whatever is around. I love the thought of putting the cornbread croutons in – looks so good!
it looks amazing – I could eat this sort of salad every day – if only more salads were like this
I’ve been on a big salad-for-lunch kick lately, too, and this one looks fabulous!
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