Grilled Cheese Curd Panzanella Recipe

Panzanella is a classic Italian dish, it is usually made with bread, onions and tomatoes and is popular in summer. It is served with grilled meat, but it can stand up on its own because it has fresh cheese curds as one of the ingredients.

This dish symbolizes the glory and versatility of summer tomatoes. However, before the 20^th century, Panzanella was based on onions, not tomatoes.

With very few and familiar ingredients like basil, vinegar, and olive oil, you can make an incredible dish like Panzanella.

Here is the recipe of refreshing grilled cheese curd Panzanella:

Ingredients

Tomatoes                                                       2 Cups, chopped

Red Wine Vinegar                                       2 Tablespoons

Garlic                                                              1 medium clove, minced

Basil leaves                                                  12 leaves, chopped

Salt & Pepper                                               to taste

Extra Virgin Olive Oil                                 6 Tablespoons

Bread                                                             3 Slices

Cheese Curds                                              2 Cups

Instructions

1. Take a bowl and add the chopped tomatoes and mix red wine vinegar, garlic, basil, and salt & pepper.
2. Pour 4 tablespoons of olive oil, mix this well, and set aside.
3. Set a grill pan on a stove over medium-high heat.
4. Brush the pan with remaining olive oil and toast bread on them. Make sure the bread gets grill marks on it, and it gets crisp. Most people use stale bread to make Panzanella, but I just quickly dried them in microwave. So, if you are not using stale bread, microwave them for few minutes before you toss them in olive oil.
5. Let the toasted bread cool and cut it into bite-sized pieces.
6. Turn off the heat on the grill pan for some minutes and put it to low heat. Make sure you don’t add cheese curds while the pan is hot.
7. Add remaining olive oil in the pan once it is cooled. Fry the cheese curds until they are crispy and brown on the bottom, but they should not be melted.
8. After this is done, carefully remove the cheese curds from the pan and set it aside to cool down.
9. Now, it’s serving time, add chopped bread on a plate and add tomatoes beside the bread. Remember, if you mix bread with tomatoes, it will get soggy.
10. Season it with salt & pepper. And spread the grilled cheese curds above bread and tomatoes.

The key to a healthy meal is the quality of the ingredients you are using. If you are not going to use fresh cheese curds or fresh tomatoes, your Panzanella is not going to be good as it should be.

I purchase my cheese curds from Pure Dairy, and they are super delicious and most importantly, squeaky. They use IQF technology for cheese curd packaging, which means they remain fresh, and all the nutrients are intact even without nasty additives and preservatives. You can get fresh cheese curds in Australia from Pure Dairy, all you have to do is contacting them; they will get back to you with the details of nearest distributors, and you will get the best cheese curds in Australia at your doorstep.