Italian Bread Shrimp Salad
This is not your classic Italian Bread salad, where the juices of ripe tomato saturate the bread with flavor. This bread salad doesn’t even have any tomatoes in it! Instead this bread salad was modified to pair with Chardonnay, so the tomatoes were omitted and the bread was lightly toasted.
- 4 cups crusty Italian bread cut into 1″ cubes
- 1 TBS regular olive oil
- 1 clove garlic crushed
Bread cubes
Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the whole crushed garlic clove and cook it until golden brown to flavor the oil. Remove the garlic clove. Add the bread cubes to the frying pan. Toss them in the oil to coat. Cook them 3-5 minutes, just enough to lightly brown one or two sides of the bread cubes. You want to have some of the cube still soft enough to absorb the dressing. We are NOT making croutons! Place the bread cubes in a large salad bowl.
- 1 large or 2 small cucumbers, chopped
- 1/4 c. chopped red onion
- 2 stalks celery, chopped
Combine the vegetables in a small bowl and set aside.
- 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
- 3 TBS champagne vinegar (Trader Joe’s Orange Muscat Champagne vinegar is preferred)
- 8 fresh basil leaves, chopped
- Dash of lemon pepper
Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour the dressing over the chopped vegetables. Let the vegetables marinate in the dressing while you cook the shrimp.
- 1 lb shrimp (21-25 per pound size)
- 1 TBS regular olive oil
- 1/2 tsp lemon pepper
In a frying pan, toss together the shrimp, olive oil and lemon pepper. Cook the shrimp until opaque and pink, stirring frequently. Add the cooked shrimp to the bread cubes, then add the vegetables and dressing mixture. Toss the salad and serve immediately.
Italian Bread Shrimp Salad
Wine Pairings
I created this salad to pair with a lightly oaked Chardonnay, specifically 2008 Patz & Hall Sonoma Coast Chardonnay. I was really pleased with this pairing. The chardonnay had pleasing acidity and the champagne vinegar in the dressing were well matched. The citrus in the wine was delicious with the shrimp and the salad brought out more complexity in the wine.
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