Gingerbread Crouton Fall Panzanella

The inspiration for this Gingerbread Crouton Fall Panzanella comes from a spread I saw in a Williams-Sonoma catalog! quite some time ago, and I must say, I’ve never made the recipe as it’s written. I served it as the salad course on my Caribbean Thanksgiving Menu and it’s so good, it’s made it into my regular fall repertoire. I always make all dishes served at Thanksgiving vegetarian (except the main dish). When I have lots of guests coming, I try to make all of the food as accessible as possible, at least in terms of accommodating allergies and dietary restrictions, but tastes, not so much. It’s the Wild West in my kitchen and you just have to give it a try, right? When I decided to make the Gingerbread Crouton Fall Panzanella it was in no way an exception to the feed the vegetarians rule. The original calls for bacon, which I’m sure would be good, but I like it just fine without. The gingerbread croutons are very rich and when paired with pickled berries and onions, well, let’s just say there’s plenty going on. I will admit that I do salt the squash and even the arugula itself liberally, … Continue reading