Grilled Vegetable Panzanella

I found a grilled vegetable panzanella recipe on Simply Scratch that looked beautiful and delicious. I had some extra vinaigrette leftover, so I decided to use that and skip the recipe’s vinaigrette. I cooked some of the veggies on my grill pan separately so they would get nice grill marks. We loved the flavor of the grilled veggies with the crispy bread tossed in the vinaigrette.  This tasty panzanella salad recipe was hearty, healthy, and it paired nicely with some flank steak and garlicky green beans.

Grilled Vegetable Panzanella

Ingredients:

• Fran’s Vinaigrette 
• 4 thick slices of leftover rustic French bread, well-grilled, then cubed into bite-sized pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 8 Cremini Mushrooms, quartered
• ¼ yellow onion, cut into chunks
• 6 stalks of asparagus, woody ends removed & cut into thirds
• 1 medium Zucchini, cut into chunks
• 3 small firm tomatoes, quartered
• Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

How to Make Grilled Vegetable Panzanella

Make Fran’s Vinaigrette – recipe found here. Set aside to let the flavors mingle.

Heat a grill pan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Coat the sliced rustic bread with olive oil cooking spray, then place it on the grill pan and cook until toasted on both sides for 5 minutes. Remove and cube into bite-sized pieces.

Add the olive oil to the grill pan, then place the mushrooms into the pan. Let them sit, leaving them alone, for 3-4 minutes, then flip them over for another 2 minutes, or until golden. Remove to a large bowl and set aside.

Add the asparagus and onion to the grill pan, adding cooking spray if needed.  Cook, stirring often for 3-4 minutes, or until fork-tender, and add to the bowl of mushrooms.

Place the zucchini chunks and tomato quarters on the grill pan.  Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side or until tender.

Gently place them into the bowl.

Add the grilled, cubed bread pieces to the bowl.

Season the veggies and bread with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste, then toss to coat.

Drizzle some of the well-shaken vinaigrette on top, then toss to coat evenly.  Taste & re-season or add more vinaigrette if needed.

Serve immediately.  Enjoy.