Salad day #1. Good times, good times..

Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil salad with fresh garlic croutons

I'm officially declaring this salad week. At least in my little world. That's right, salads for dinner all week. I bet you think that sounds boring. Me too. But therein lies the challenge. I'm sure it doesn't have to be boring, I just have to stretch my imagination a little. Although, if I give up after day 2, don't hold it against me. I must admit that the week started last night, and will officially end on thursday night. So really, its only a 5 day challenge. There's no eating salads for dinner once the man comes back. That will call for some serious meat. Like a roast. Or some ribs. Or something equally grunt-worthy.

Day one was off to a good start. I could easily make this salad again this week, but that wouldn't make for a very interesting blog would it. And again with the basil. I'm telling you, it just won't end. I think my skin is starting to turn green.

Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil salad with fresh garlic croutons
This will serve one as a light salad, using a good sized tomato or 2-3 plum tomatoes.
You could easily just double the ingredients to serve two or more.

Dressing
Combine the following:
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 clove of garlic, minced
salt to taste
Let sit 5 or 10 minutes for flavours to blend.

Salad
1 tomato, or 2 plum tomatoes, chopped
fresh mozzarella
fresh basil
cracked black pepper
a slice or two of a baguette (perhaps more if your baguette is really skinny, cutting on a bias gives you more surface area to work with)

This salad is best if the tomatoes and mozzarella are at room temperature.

Place the tomatoes in a bowl. Stir the dressing well and add 1 tablespoon of it to the tomato. (this will vary depending on how much tomato you are using, dress it to your liking) Rip chunks of fresh mozzarella from a mozzarella ball and add to the tomatoes. Top with thinly sliced ribbons of basil and cracked black pepper to taste.

Take the remaining dressing and brush it over a slice or two of baguette. Broil or grill on a grill pan until toasted. You may prefer to cut the crusts off first. That is left to personal preference. Minding the heat of the baguette, rip it into small crouton sized bits, as large or as small as you want. It is good to have a combination of larger and smaller pieces. Add to your salad and enjoy.