Bread Salad, anyone?

Surely we are all familiar with pudding made from stale bread, bread crumbs or even croutons. Well, hear this–there is a very good recipe that will give you a succulent, refreshing, multi-textured salad from days-old bread. We came across this as we leafed through a foreign lifestyle magazine. Immediately we tried it for last week’s dinner we were hosting and it was great!

You need the following–4 stale pan de sal, one small minced small red onion, two medium-sized cubed tomatoes (squeeze out seeds), 10 big pimiento-stuffed green olives (sliced thin), 80 gms sun-dried tomatoes (chopped), 2 tbps. white vinegar, 2 tbps. balsamic vinegar, 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp. ground black pepper, 2 tbps. red wine (any left over will do), a dash of salt and 1/4 kilo assorted lettuce.

Take the core off the lettuce and soak in salted water for about 5 minutes. Drain in a salad wringer and set aside. Cut the pan de sal crosswise and toast (but not too brown). Soak in water (enough to cover) and then squeeze to completely get rid of the liquid. Separate with fork and mix well with all the ingredients (using only half of the olive oil), except the lettuce. Set aside.

Spread or toss the lettuce in a salad bowl, sprinkle with the remaining olive oil and a dash of salt. Make a small hole at the center. Pour the bread mixture into the space and serve chilled. Lettuce in the Tesda weekend market is very fresh and crispy; at P100 a kilo, you need only P25 for this salad. Tomatoes are so lovely these days. Sun-dried tomatoes are sold at Santis for P140 per 130 gms (you will only need half of this) and if you cook a lot of Italian or Spanish food, surely you have some left-over olives. So try and enjoy this one.

We love bread, and are always ready to visit any new bakeshop, often impulsively buying yummy-smelling bakery products, especially the ones with fillings, herbs and spices. Thus we were delighted to have been with a friend when she visited the Centralized Bakeshop (Baker’s Kingdom) of Rustan’s on Manggahan Road in Pasig City. We had a good look at their operation, efficiently guided through the ovens, sorting area, cooling counters by Boy Samson and Imelda Cortezano. We noted the tight quality control system they have adopted. Among their products are buttery cheese-topped ensaymadas which retail at P11, chewy brownies speckled with nuts sold at P10 (for the caramel type) and P12.50 each, soft dough chicken, tuna and corned beef rolls, each with substantial filling at P15.50, P10 and P15.50 respectively.

Christmas reminder. If you are planning to make your own patés this season, hurry and get the ceramic microwaveable bowls now. They might quickly disappear from the shelves. We got some deep, inverted cone shaped small ones at Makro, good for about 150 gms of a gourmet liver spread at P112.73 (add 10 % tax) for a pack of three. Should you be baking fruit cakes, check their wine and spirits racks. You are likely to find something you can substitute for the expensive Cointreau (which costs more than P800) for less than P200.

Also at Makro is the new brand of tomato sauce–Dole. But the least expensive is still Ram at P63.64 (again add 10 % vat) for a pack of 6 cans. They have some confusing tags at the canned meat area. Could it be that some customers are switching them? A case in point was Swifts luncheon meat, which has two different prices for the same type (Chinese style) and size (375 gms). By the way, the cashier had us use a pencil to sign our credit card slip. Are ballpens too expensive for this Makro store?

There is an abundance of fruits in the markets. Look for pineapples that come from Bicol: they are supposed to be the sweetest and are cheaper. Rambutans also abound, but atis do not look very good.

Lansones are now very visible and mangoes are forever with us. Disappointed at how bland the local watermelons have been, we opted for those imported from Taiwan at P80 a kilo. They come in an odd shape, oblong, but are sweet. The price of cooking bananas (saba) have come down to P1.50 each. Matamis na saging is the simplest dessert you can make. So do it now.