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Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Cheese Croutons

Tomato Salad with Grilled Cheese Croutons

Grilled Cheese Croutons — what fun! — dress up a lovely heirloom tomato salad with a lemony vinaigrette that’s sparked with a secret ingredient.

Perfectly ripe and juicy heirloom tomatoes, in all their beautiful summer finery, need very little to bring out their intrinsic glory.

A little salt, a little pepper, and away you go.

That’s the theory behind today’s super simple salad.

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Cheese Croutons | Summer's perfect tomato salad recipe | ShockinglyDelicious.com Those colorful tomatoes, dressed simply with an olive oil vinaigrette, and made more lunch-like with some grilled cheese croutons. What could be better?

How to make Grilled Cheese Croutons for your Heirloom Tomato Salad

Heirloom tomatoes in a white bowl on ShockinglyDelicious.comPick the tomatoes (lucky you if you get to pick them from the yard; still lucky if you can pick them from the farmers market).

Ingredients for grilled cheese croutons on ShockinglyDelicious.comGather the ingredients for croutons, and by croutons, I actually mean grilled cheese sandwiches. But today we’re calling them croutons, because they will sit atop a salad. Let me have my little quirks, OK?

Assembling grilled cheese sandwiches with challah and cheese on ShockinglyDelicious.comCut thick slices of challah bread (or use your favorite bread). Cut slabs of Kerrygold Dubliner cheese (or use your favorite). Make sandwiches.

2 sandwiches in the panini maker on ShockinglyDelicious.comSlap them together and grill in a panini maker until toasted on the outside and melty on the inside.

Dubliner Grilled Cheese Sandwich on a red plate on ShockinglyDelicious.comLet them cool just a bit before cutting into squares for croutons.

Lunch is served! Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Cheese Croutons.

You don’t really need a recipe for this…I trust you to make it to your own liking. But I’ll give you one anyway, because I like to make sure even the most inexperienced cook can be successful. I have great confidence in you…you can do it!

And if you do it, be sure to send me a picture of your creation!

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Cheese Croutons | Summer's perfect tomato salad recipe | ShockinglyDelicious.com

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Grilled Cheese Croutons

Prep Time: 7 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Grilled Cheese Croutons -- what fun! -- dress up a lovely heirloom tomato salad with a lemony vinaigrette that's sparked with a secret ingredient.

Ingredients

  • Croutons
  • 4 thick slices challah bread (or your favorite)
  • Sliced Kerrygold Dubliner cheese (or your favorite)
  • Butter (optional)
  • .
  • Salad
  • 4 large heirloom tomatoes
  • Meyer Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing [2] (or your favorite vinaigrette)

Directions

  1. Make croutons: Assemble 2 sandwiches with cheese in the middle and grill in panini maker until outside is golden and cheese melts. (Some people like to butter the outside of the sandwiches before grilling. I don't, but suit yourself as to your own preference). Remove from grill and allow sandwiches to cool for a couple of minutes, so the cheese doesn't escape when you cut them.
  2. Make salad: Cut each tomato in half at the equator, and if there are large seed pockets exposed, use your finger to flick out the seeds and mucilaginous stuff and discard it. (I'll wait while you look up mucilaginous.) If the pockets are very small, don't bother. Dice tomatoes and add to 4 flat, wide salad bowls, making sure to get a nice mix of each color tomato in each bowl. Drizzle with vinaigrette.
  3. Cut the sandwiches into small squares, and poke with a toothpick or a pick. Add crouton picks to the salads.
  4. Serves 4.

Notes

Recipe source: Dorothy Reinhold | Shockingly Delicious

https://www.shockinglydelicious.com/heirloom-tomato-salad-with-grilled-cheese-croutons/ [3]

Note on the cute sandwich picks

Handmade Heart Skewer from Restaurantware.comSee the picks in the photos, which I have used to spear the grilled cheese croutons? I got them from Restaurantware.com [4], a wonderful resource for a variety of serving ware that can spice up your family table. They have a new emphasis on sustainable, eco-friendly tableware, ranging from paper goods like straws or decorated paper bags to bamboo plates and little cones and “boats” that look cute for salad. The Handmade Red Heart Bamboo Skewers [5] are 1,000 to a box, for $79.99. They’re 4.75 inches tall. They lend a little romantic air to a dish, and I have a few tucked away for Valentine’s Day, our anniversary, and other similar occasions. How about for a wedding, too? They’d go well spearing a little fruit kebab, or deconstructed caprese salad on a skewer, right? Let your imagination run a little wild on how to use these.

Looking for more sandwiches?

French Ham and Butter Sandwich on a baguette with grapes alongsideFrench Ham and Butter Sandwich [6]

Hatch Grilled Cheese Sandwiches cut in triangles and stacked on their side on a white platter Hatch Chile Grilled Cheese Sandwich [7]

Disclosure: Kerrygold sent the cheese for recipe development. Restaurantware.com sent the picks.

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