Cornbread panzanella

Earlier today I tweeted about how, if I had a cornbread store, I'd only sell middle pieces because everyone knows the middle is where it's at (except for my friend Rob, apparently, who prefers crusty edge pieces; I would have my cornbread store employees wrap those up and send them to him).  But come on, the middle piece is the moistest, cakiest part of a pan of cornbread.  It's even better on the second day when maybe it's spent the night humidifying under plastic wrap and the top gets kind of gummy.  I ask you, what's not to love about that, and why am I not eating middle-piece gummy cornbread every day of my life?  Cornbread store.  Million dollar idea, right there.

This recipe for cornbread panzanella is by Giada de Laurentiis from her Everyday Pasta cookbook  (Second M.$. idea: Everyday Cornbread).  It's the perfect summer meal.  You have to eat it immediately, so if you're planning to take it somewhere you should do all of the chopping and make the dressing ahead of time, keeping the ingredients separated until you do a last-minute (easy) toss-together. 

Giada calls for stale cornbread, but if you don't mind a little mushiness you can use fresh.  Or you can cut the cornbread into chunks and toast it for 8-10 minutes in a 300 degree oven.  Up to you.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound cornbread, cut into big (3") cubes  <--this is the standard size you can buy in most supermarket bakeries
• 1 C halved cherry tomatoes  <--or equivalent of other tomatoes; add more if you like tomatoes
  
• 1 C cubed fontina cheese (1/2")  <--fresh mozzarella is also good but a little on the bland side
• 1/2 hothouse cucumber, quartered and sliced  <--or seed a regular cucumber
• 1/2 C chopped fresh basil
• 2/3 C extra-virgin olive oil
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 t salt
• 1 t pepper

DIRECTIONS

Combine the cornbread, tomatoes, cheese, cucumber, and basil in a large bowl.

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil, lemon zest and juice, salt, and pepper.  Whisk together and pour over the salad.  Toss very gently to combine.  Serve immediately.  4-6 servings.

Note: If you're planning to make this for your evening meal, you can most assuredly get away with cutting a smallish square of that cornbread out of the middle of its pan and eat it sometime during the day.  You will still have almost too much cornbread to deal with for this recipe.  You can also sneak a few chunks while assembling the salad.  Trust me on this one.  No one's going to know unless you are foolish enough to blog about it.

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And now after a couple of days of painting, here's young Tyler, busy in his office:

 

I've cropped the image.  Unseen is the left side, including his computer, a window, and other desk stuff.  Lots more to do.  I watched episode after episode of Friday Night Lights while working on this portrait.  Appropriately, Tyler was a big football star in high school and college, weighing in at what my sister liked to call a "deuce and a half," and he's a fan of the show, too.  If you watch enough FNL, you'll find that its theme song will infiltrate all of your daily activities, creeping in and staying there long before you realize it.  If you watch the first season, you can fully expect to be singing Devil Town hours after you've put the DVDs back in their case.  Soon you'll find yourself adapting the lyrics as you sing them to your cat, for example.  "All Bun's friends were kitty cats, didn't know they were kitty cats, turns out Bun was a kitty cat herself in a devil town," etc.

Comments

[Jeff Carroll]

And now it's in my head, too. From Daniel Johnston: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOJOjXbNHLs

[L]

I prefer the edges too. So there. :P

[Caroline]

Everyone just relax. We'll lease adjacent storefronts and sell edges on one side and middles on the other.

It's preferable if some people like each part, since that won't lead to a Seinfeld muffin-tops scenario.

[Anna]

I'm a crusty edge gal myself.

Wow, that painting of Tyler is spot on, seeing what I know of Tyler from your sister's YouTube escapades!!! Brilliant job!

[Hil]

Sign me up for the leftover crusty edges. I could probably use one of those All Edges brownie pans and make cornbread with it instead. Heresy, I know.