Grilled Bread Salad

I eat alone fairly often. My roommate and I have different schedules often, I can only impose upon Nic so many times before we get sick of each other, and its not practical to meet up with someone every night to share a meal. Eating alone has never bothered me though, it is the perfect chance to eat exactly what I want- whether it be eggs 4 times in a row or some total random mish-mash of things, with a side of green salad to make it seem legit. 

A while ago I came across What We Eat When We're Alone by Deborah Madison. Madison is a well accomplished vegetarian cookbook writer, who complied this book through interviewing people on what they eat when they are alone (well, yes, but there is no better description.) When there is no one to cook for and no one to please, people come up with some strange concoctions to satisfy themselves. A lot of the meals revolved around toast, all things Mexican, and ungodly things done with peanut butter. 

This salad came from having gone to the farmer's market and looking for a way to fashion a jumble of fresh vegetables into some type of coherent meal. The bread came from a local bread company, H&F Bread Co.,  tomatoes and cucumbers sounded tasty, and as I am now the proud host of Nic's grill, so that had to be put to use. You are more than welcome to simply toast the bread, and ignore grill the scallions though. Its all up to you.

Grilled Bread Salad

Serves 1

2 thick slices of multigrain bread

halved garlic clove

6-7 cherry tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

2-3 tbl chopped herbs- I used basil and parsley

1 green onion

lemon juice

1. Preheat grill to medium high. Grill scallions for 1-3 minutes, looking for grill marks. Rub the slices of bread with olive oil and grill until toasty, and grill marks appear. Remove from the grill and rub with cut garlic clove. This gives the salad some garlic flavor without overwhelming raw garlic flavor/pieces. 

2. Cube bread, mince green onion, and chop tomotoes and cucumbers. Mince the herbs, tear the basil. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Serve after about 10 minutes, to allow flavors to meld.