Salad Daze

We loved, loved, loved the New River Birding and Nature Festival. We can't wait to go back. There's hardly a thing we would change.

Except perhaps that salad we had on our first field trip. I can still hear Paul Shaw as he opened the up the lunch coolers. "There's fried chicken, cornbread salad..." Cornbread salad? Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! I could just sense the crunchy corny croutons, the juicy tomatoes, and perhaps since this was the South, some crisp bacon.

Well, there was bacon:

Thanks to Molly Daly for the photo!

Turns out we were being served a Southern specialty which involved crumbled cornbread, green peas, mayonnaise, grated cheese, and crumbled bacon. Normally, I am quite a fan of Southern specialties, which are generally quite homey. I've eaten plenty of Newfoundland comfort food, such as fish and brewis, and quite enjoyed it. But no one calls fish and brewis salad.

And so I swore to my new friends in that West Virginia gorge that I would remake cornbread salad in a way that would make them want to eat it. I took as my model panzanella, aka Italian bread salad.

You start with a pan of home-made cornbread. Kelly helped me immeasurably by making it.


You'll also need some basil. Kelly also helped here, by planting it.


Chop some local tomatoes. (Kelly helped, by purchasing them.) These are local hothouse. In another month, they'll be the miracle known as the Ontario field tomato.


Saute cubes of cornbread in olive oil, butter, and garlic. (Kelly did not help here; she was eating them.)


Get them nice and toasty, and add a little sea salt.


Toss the croutons, torn basil, and tomatoes with some chopped scallions, black olives, balsamic vinegar, and good olive oil. Season with cracked pepper.


Yum. The next night I riffed on Julie's idea of Mexican flavours, and added chilis to the croutons, replaced basil with fresh cilantro and oregano, and switched up olives for avocado.


That was pretty darn yummy too. Give it a try.