Panzanella Green Salad with Chicken

* recipe from Erin Simonson Cohea

Salad greens [any you like - I love bagged 7 lettuce or spring mix]
Heirloom tomatoes cut to bite-size or 1 red bell pepper - raw, seeds removed & sliced
Parmesan cheese grated or shaved
Greek olives [pitted and drained] - located in the pickle aisle
1/2 baguette cubed for croutons [a serrated knife works best]
pine nuts
1 store-bought rotisserie chicken [pulled, shredded and skin removed] - optional
salt & pepper

above quantities are to your liking

Dressing: 2:1 ratio 2 parts extra virgin olive oil to 1 part red wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste [shake well, taste for salt, dress at the very end with just enough to coat the leaves]

To prep:

1. Preheat a wide bottom, shallow pan to medium heat. In the dry pan, toast the pine nuts paying close attention not to burn - the second you smell them and they're gold, remove from heat and dump in the bottom of your salad bowl with the Greek olives and parm cheese.

2. Return pan to heat - add a drizzle of olive oil, plus a little butter. Once butter is melted, add cubed baguette. Drizzle more olive oil to moisten, add a pinch of salt and pepper, toast the croutons on all sides - turning often [tongs are the best tool for the job]. Once golden brown, remove from heat, add to salad bowl.

3. Return the pan to the heat and add the shredded pulled chicken to reheat unless it hasn't been refrigerated and is still warm. Add chicken to the salad and the greens last. You don't want the heat from everything else to wilt your greens. Adding them last will prevent this. Dress to your liking and voila!