Italian Bread Salad with Olives

Real estate waits for no one. I showed 8 houses this week in neighborhoods where the asking prices climb like the temperature. Every showing is a conversation about what home means. Every key I hand over is a story beginning.

Sophia is volunteering at the library with an intensity that would concern me if it were directed at anything other than learning. She talked about it at dinner for twenty minutes and I understood approximately half of it but all of the joy behind it.

I am 52 years old and I have learned that life is not a straight line from A to B. It is a moussaka — layers of different things, some planned, some accidental, all held together by heat and time and the stubborn refusal to fall apart.

I made a massive horiatiki tonight — tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, Kalamata olives, a slab of feta. No lettuce. Never lettuce. I served it with bread and olive oil — always too much olive oil, because in this family there is no such thing as too much. We ate and the conversation was easy and the evening was warm.

Sophia told me this week that she is proud of me. I was not expecting it. We were in the car, driving to Tarpon Springs for Sunday dinner, and she said Mom, I am proud of you. I said for what. She said for everything. For the bakery. For the houses. For making dinner every night even when you are tired. I gripped the steering wheel and blinked and said thank you, koritsi mou. She said do not cry. I did not cry. Much.

When Sophia told me she was proud of me, I did not have words — I had the steering wheel and the road and the blur of the palmetto trees going past. What I did have, waiting at home, was a table full of bread and olives and the kind of salad that does not need to be fancy to mean something. This Italian Bread Salad with Olives is as close to that evening as a recipe can get — torn bread soaking up good olive oil, briny olives, sharp vegetables — a dish that, like the best moments, holds together simply by refusing to fall apart.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 10 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 cups crusty Italian or sourdough bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for drizzling
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 English cucumber, roughly chopped
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

Toast the bread. Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss the torn bread pieces with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil and a pinch of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 8–10 minutes, until golden and crisp at the edges but still slightly chewy inside. Remove and let cool slightly.
Make the dressing. In a small bowl, whisk together the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, and remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Combine the salad. In a large bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, olives, and toasted bread. Pour the dressing over the top and toss gently to coat.
Rest and serve. Let the salad sit for 5 minutes so the bread absorbs the dressing and the flavors meld. Scatter the torn basil over the top, drizzle with a little more olive oil, and serve immediately at room temperature.

Nutrition (per serving)

Italian Bread Salad with Olives — The Salad That Holds Everything Together