Steak Panzanella

This recipe is from Cooking Light. I don't like to use beef/steak b/c of the environmental costs of raising cattle, but the steak was really the best meat to add to this salad. this is a classic italian bread salad recipe. also uses up garden tomatoes.

1/2 pound day old ciabatta bread, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped tomato
1 cup coarsely chopped english cucumber
1/2 c coarsely chopped fresh basil
1/2 c vertically sliced red onion
1/2 c julienne cut bottled roasted red bell peppers
1 1/2 tsp capers (i skipped this, i don't like capers. i think they are silly)
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tbspn sherry vinegar (i used some sherry cooking wine and red wine vinegar since i didn't have this exactly)
1 tbspn olive oil
3/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 c loosely packed arugula (i used spinach, it was cheaper)
Garlic rubbed Flank steak cut into 1 inch slices ( recipe for this : 1 two-pound flank steak, salt, pepper, 2 garlic cloves minced. rub steak evenly with salt, pepper, and garlic. grill till desired doneness.)

1. preheat oven to 400. arrange bread cubes in a single layer on baking sheet. bake at 400 for 8 minutes or until toasted.

2. combine tomato and next 6 ingredients (through garlic) in a large bowl. combine vinegar, oil, sugar, black pepper and salt. add vinegar mixture to tomato mixture, toss well. let stand for 1 hour (orhowever long)

3. add bread cubes, arugula, and garlic rubbed flank stead to tomato mixture, toss gently to coat. serve immediately.


*this will be one of my alltime favorites. it was so good. a couple side notes: i don't know what flank steak is. i looked at the grocery store and nothing said "flank steak". i ended up getting something sirloin i think, it wasn't too expensive which is fine for this since it is going into a salad.

also, do you use freshly ground black pepper? b/c if you don't, it's time to start. i keep a pepper mill right by the stove now and when a recipe calls for pepper i grind it directly into the dish. the flavor and spice of freshly ground pepper is 100 times better than something in a spice tin. i am thinking about using kosher salt next b/c everything i read about it says it tastes better and is better for seasoning. right now i use something from the great salt lake that also has some red bits in it. supposedly just buying morton's salt in the blue container with the umbrella girl on it isn't as good for you and doesn't have the same flavor. it's something to consider.