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piece of toasted garlic bread with prosciutto, salad, blue cheese, tomatoes and red onions on top on a white plate with a fork and knife and some pine nuts.
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Garlic Toast Chopped Salad

Garlic Toast Chopped Salad has it all - lots of texture, loads of flavor and is substantial enough for a meal. Don't be intimidated by all the steps - it's super easy to make. Just read through the recipe completely.
Course Salad
Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Author Lori Murphy

Ingredients

For Salad

  • 8 slices prosciutto
  • 4 slices Italian bread I used Turano Pane Turano Authentic Italian Bread
  • red bibb lettuce or Boston lettuce leaves separated and washed
  • 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes halved
  • ½ cup gorgonzola crumbled
  • 1 lemon cut in half
  • ¼ cup toasted pine nuts I buy these already toasted at Trader Joe's

For Dressing

  • ¼ cup white vinegar
  • 1 tsp garlic
  • ½ tsp dried oregano
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • ¼ cup chopped red onion
  • ⅓ cup olive oil

For Bread

  • olive oil for drizzling on bread
  • ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
  • 1 clove garlic chopped
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 400º. Place prosciutto on parchment covered baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes until crisp watching it at the 8 min mark. Remove from oven and let cool on sheet until ready to use. 
  • Meanwhile, blend salad dressing ingredients except the olive oil. Mix them up in a jelly jar or glass measuring cup and stream in olive oil while whisking vigorously. Also can hold the handle of a whisk between the palms of your hands and vigorously twisting it back and forth.
  • Stack the washed and dried lettuce leaves and thinly slice down the stacks to create shreds. Wash and dry the tomatoes and cut in half. Finely chop the red onion. Set aside.

For Bread

  • Heat the broiler to high. 
  • Mix the bread spread ingredients together and set aside briefly. 
  • Lightly drizzle or brush olive oil on one side of bread and broil that side only for 1 min till golden. Flip over and spread bread spread evenly on the other side. Broil again, but this time at 475 degrees if your broiler has that option. Otherwise use the low or high broil setting and keep an eye on it!
  • When the cheese is golden on top and the edges are nice and toasted, remove the bread from the oven and cool until ready to assemble the salad. The bread can be made about 30 minutes before eating if needed and is great at room temperature.

To Assemble the Salad

  • Layer the salad as follows:
    Place a piece of bread across the plate. Top with the 1-2 slices of prosciutto. Sprinkle the shredded lettuce on top and accent with the tomatoes, cheese and red onions. Drizzle dressing over top at this point. Top with pine nuts and a squeeze of lemon

Notes

Make ahead instructions:
  • The dressing can be made ahead for up to 1 week
  • You can prepare both the prosciutto and the garlic toast the bread earlier in the day, cool completely, and store in separate ziplocs and reheat right before assembling the salad.