What I had envisioned as a quiet evening for two became a dinner party for 6 in about half an hour this past Sunday evening. When I am having people over for dinner I like to put quite a bit of planning and thought in to the meal. However, as of noon on Sunday I still had not decided what to make for dinner! I finally decided on steak and a bread and vegetable salad. Ben is the steak master, and I’d had the salad at a cooking class with Rebecca Rather at Central Market earlier this summer, so I felt like it would be a nice and fairly easy meal to put together. I decided to make prosciutto wrapped parmesan breadsticks from a Giada DeLaurentis cookbook. Ben suggested that we also have some port salut cheese and crackers. We went to the grocery store together which is a rare occasion. Having a grocery partner is much more fun than going alone! I’m including the salad recipe below. I would include the steak recipe as well, but it’s Ben’s secret and I am not even allowed within 5 feet of the kitchen when he makes it…ok, not really. I just don’t know exactly what he uses. The meal ended up being pretty delicious. I would recommend tossing the salad just an hour or so ahead and try not to have leftovers or overdress it. I found myself with an unsalvagavle bowl of lovely vegetables tossed with soggy, deteriorating bread cubes at the end of the night. I hate throwing food away, so next time I’ll either make half the recipe or just toss half the veggies with half the bread and save the rest for the next day.

Summer Vegetable Bread Salad
1 loaf sourdough cut into 1-inch cubes and toasted
4 ears of corn cooked and taken off the cob
3 large heirloom tomatoes cut in wedges (I used 8 campari tomatoes)
1 large cucumber sliced and seeded
1/2 red onion thinly sliced
2 bell peppers cubed (I used 1 yellow and 1 orange)
1 T each roughly chopped basil & parsley

Vinaigrette
2 t minced garlic
2 t dijon mustard
6 T red wine vinegar
2 t honey
1 t salt
1/2 cup good olive oil

Combine all ingredients except for the olive oil. Drizzle in oil while whisking dressing until combined.

Toss all vegetables except for herbs in a large bowl. 45 minutes before serving, toss vegetables, herbs, bread cubes and vinaigrette. Let sit at room temperature until serving.