Roasted sausages, sweet potatoes and tomatoes, tossed with spinach, basil, and hearty chunks of croutons & goat cheese, this warm panzanella is the perfect cold weather alternative to classic panzanella salad!
I have never turned down dessert. EVER. That might be an odd way to start off a post about a salad, but the fact is, whether it’s January or July, my sweet tooth is just as sharp for delicious desserts!
My abs don’t poke through my skin, and that’s okay. I’d rather die not wondering what that banana cream pie tastes like.
Having said that, you can’t subsist on desserts alone. I mean that would be ideal, but apparently life just doesn’t work that way. You still gotta get that 5+ a day fruit and veggies, so that you don’t feel too bad about that sweet tooth.
Winter panzanella
On days like that, I love me some of this Roasted Winter Panzanella Salad! I love panzanella in any form, especially the traditional version with nothing but juicy tomatoes, bread, onions and basil. Classic panzanella salad is a Tuscan salad, starring tomatoes and chunks of soaked stale bread, that’s typically enjoyed in the summer. Except it’s January and it’s winter where I live now, so cold greens, cold cheese, cold veggies, cold dressing… it all seemed a little too frosty and unwelcoming. Solution? Warm winter panzanella salad with roasted tomatoes and potatoes. Besides, the classic version and my chicken and melon salad, this is one of our favorite healthy salad recipes. Hearty, healthy, packed with flavor, yet warm and cozy like anything that’s worth keeping. But if you’re the chill sort of fellow, don’t worry, you can have it cold too. Or at room temperature.
Recipe highlights
And the best part is that this salad is super easy to make. And it’s very versatile too. I deviated just a little from the traditional for this recipe and included roasted sausages (mainly for Mr K’s benefit), sweet potatoes, and roma tomatoes, tossed with spinach, basil, garlic and big chunks of croutons and little chunks of delicious goat cheese for richness. And it’s topped with a drizzle of balsamic & honey mustard dressing for that final touch.
Complement it with your favorite winter drink recipes, and you have yourself an incredibly cozy winter meal! So get into your PJs, put on your favorite episode of Parks and Rec on Netflix, and sit back with a plateful of this roasted panzanella salad, because hearty, healthy and cozy don’t come much better than this and I bet even those Pawneeans would love this salad! 🙂
How to make winter panzanella salad
You can roast the sweet potatoes, tomatoes and sausages together in the same pan with garlic. Then toss it all together with the croutons that will soak up all the wonderful juices from the tomatoes, spinach, basil and then finally, that glorious balsamic dressing. You can make this ahead of time too, because it actually tastes even better after a while because it lets all those flavors mingle and the croutons to soak up all the juices. Which is why it’s important to dry out the bread in the oven (hence croutons) so that they don’t become soggy. I almost always use my homemade white bread recipe, which makes the absolute best croutons, so much better than the flimsy store-bought sandwich bread. This is truly a restaurant-quality meal, bursting with flavor and made with basic ingredients. You can of course leave out the sausages, if you’d like to keep the dish vegetarian, there’s so much goodness in this dish regardless. When it’s cold outside and you’re still coming around from that end of year food coma, there’s nothing better than a roasted winter panzanella salad that’s healthy and satisfying at the same time. Seriously try this, your family will love you for it. 🙂 If you liked this recipe don’t forget to subscribe for new (and free) recipes by entering your email address below or on the side bar (and get all these recipes delivered straight to your inbox), so you don’t miss out on a thing. You can find me on FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST and GOOGLE-PLUS too.
