Roasted Tomato-Bread Toss

    The one perk to teaching summer school instead of being completely lazy and taking the entire summer off, is no work on Fridays.  I think every weekend should be 3 days long.  I look forward to a quiet day by myself to work through a to-do list, run errands, cleanup the house, spend time with my pups, and even watch a little tv.  Today I'm bringing a quick lunch over to share with my mom.  Yesterday I finally made it to my first farmer's market of the season.  I wish I had my camera.  There was so much color and everything was so fresh and beautiful!  I bought a pint of cherry tomatoes, despite having 3 plants full ready to be ripe in my own year, just because they were so pretty!  I put those tomatoes to good use in this recipe from August's Better Homes and Gardens.

Roasted Tomato-Bread Toss

Ingredients
3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
2 cups torn Italian Bread
5 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup Kalamata olives
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
1. Line a baking dish with parchment paper.  Place washed and dry tomatoes in a single layer in the pan.
2. Place the torn bread in a bowl and drizzle with 2 teaspoons of olive oil.  Toss to coat.  Place the bread on a baking sheet.
3. Place tomatoes in the oven on the top rack and the bread on a lower rack.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  The tomatoes skins should begin to wrinkle and split.  That's how you'll know they are ready to come out.
4. Combine tomatoes, bread, and olives in a large bowl. 
5. In a small bowl, mix together 3 teaspoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, and the salt and pepper (You can also add some minced garlic to this mixture.  I left it out because my mom doesn't like garlic).  Drizzle this over the tomatoes, bread, and olives.  Lightly toss to mix everything together.

The Taste Test
     I found that the tomatoes needed a little extra time in the oven and the bread needed a little less.  This was such a simple dish but so good.  The bread soaked up the balsamic vinegar and it was such a nice compliment to the juicy tomatoes that burst in your mouth and the salty olives.  I'm looking forward to the tomatoes in our garden ripening.  I think my mom is too, she asked me when I was going to post the recipe so she could make it herself.  Thanks for a nice lunch date mom!