Tomato Bread Salad

Did I mention that Rachel is really liking tomatoes this year? She has never liked tomatoes but each year really wants to since they are so lovely and I force her to plant tons of them. Well, with her newly found love we have been making bread salad full of tomatoes over and over. Our CSA comes with a loaf of bread on pickup at Grand Central Bakery, which these days means that the day after we usually have some beautiful tomatoes and a heal of crusty bread. perfect. The photo shows a version probably breadier than we usually make it and with mostly cherry tomatoes and some other small varieties from the garden, but the best is a salad heavy on big, meaty heirloom varieties. We typically toast the bread in the oven with some garlic and olive oil rubbed on then toss with tomatoes, some herbs from the garden (basil, lemon verbena, parsley sometimes). I like to make a vinaigrette with a touch of balsamic vinegar, but sometimes we just use olive oil and salt, then some mozzarella or a time or two we have tossed in some feta because its what we had (it works when the tomatoes are really flavorful but might overpower some). So easy. Oh hey, just noticed that this salad in the picture has fried capers too. Fun.

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