Burpee’s sells 24 different basil seeds here.  I think the most I’ve ever had growing in our Dallas backyard was about 10.  One year I found one called lettuce leaf basil and it was wonderful in salads.  I only found it the one year.  This year I have lemon basil, Minuette basil - spicy, Red Rubin basil, Pesto Perpetuo basil - spicy & peppery, Purple Ruffle basil, Genovese basil and Cinnamon basil.  The only basil I’ve found I’m not really fond of is Thai basil.  In Dallas, I can count on most every basil plant growing into a small scrub size plant by the end of summer.  None will survive the winter.  I think my favorites are the cinnamon and the Genovese sweet but I’m very fond of the Red Rubin also.

You can read about HotM here and here. Since the aim is heart healthy cooking every month, I really do try to have a dish for this one but more often than not it just slips right passed me in a silent flash and the next month’s theme is up before I’ve gotten my thoughts straight.  Not this time Michelle!  Herbs!  Spring has moved into summer here and that means the herbs and especially Basil are growing wild in my back yard.  I may not enjoy the hot and humid conditions but these plants really do.  I do enjoy the basil that grows so fast and thick!  I do love passing the large size box of basil marked $5.99 in the grocery store knowing I can pick easily 5 times that amount and not have to go through the check out.

Panzanella has so many names: Bread Salad and Left-Overs Salad being two of the most common and well known.  The name Panzanella is Italian and seems to have strongest roots in Tuscany but it’s mostly a peasant invention of necessity and so the recipes seem endless.  Google ‘panzanella recipes’ and you get well over 82,000 hits.  Basically what that tells me is that there really is no recipe. 

With a light dressing of oil and vinegar, you get a very happy heart healthy meal that at least the way I do it, keeps us in dinner and lunch at least twice.  This is salad that is happy to be made ahead and only gets better the next day.  I would never make this salad with out the basil being fresh.  Believe me it is a star in this salad.

My Dallas Kitchen Panzanella

Miche bread cubes toasted at 180° for 40 minutes

English cucumber - scraped of seeds, salted and let to pull out liquid

yellow & orange sweet bell peppers chopped

Anaheim pepper chopped

corn kernels cut from the cob and cob scraped for juices

capers drained

assorted basil leaves torn

garlic chopped

red onion chopped

Equal parts olive oil and balsamic vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

Mix all together an hour before your meal time.

Avocado chopped and added before serving

I’m off for lunch now!