The Best Gluten-Free BBQ Spring Panzanella

I am in love with BBQ and cooking everything outside, over real fire. And while I am not able to do it as many times I’d love to, I still try to recreate the feeling as often as I can. So here’s a veg-centric gluten-free BBQ recipe I devoured last Sunday. It was a joy to prepare and a real taste sensation.

Panzanella is a Florentine stale bread salad popular in the summer and typically calls for tomatoes, onions, basil and often includes cucumber and dressed in olive oil and vinegar; but in the spring, I prefer using seasonal ingredients like asparagus and radishes.

• 2 large spring onion
• 2 large slices of gluten-free bread or sourdough if non GF 
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• goat cheese of your choice
• 1 clove garlic
• a bunch of asparagus
• salad mix

• 60g coriander, stalks and all (~ 2 packs)
• 20 g mint leaves (~ 1 pack mint, stalks removed)
• 1 lemon, juice only
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp water
• ½ tsp flaky sea salt

1. Light your BBQ, let the coals turn white, and allow the smoke to die down. This can take anywhere from 20 minutes to 60 minutes depending on the size of your BBQ and the type of coals or wood you are using.
2. Rinse any loose dirt off the spring onions and the apsaragus and throw these onto your BBQ whole and grill them for 5-10 minutes until charred and soft.
3. Simultaneously grill your bread on the BBQ until well-charred.
4. Slice up the goat cheese and grill it over the fire for a couple of minutes on both sides. Be careful not to let it melt away.
5. If you can’t use BBQ, then you can make everything inside in your kithchen using a grill pan. Simply charr the ingredients in the pan over olive oil. 
6. Halve the garlic clove and rub the cut side on the charred bread; rub the garlicky toasts very lightly with some olive oil and cut the bread into bite size pieces.
7. Mix up the coriander & mint dressing in a small jug blender or nutribullet.
8. Using a lettuce or salad mix, whizz up your panzanella by mixing the bread and the salad together. Top it with your charred vegetables and goat cheese and garnish with fresh herbs or extra virgin olive oil, and eat right away.