Today, I am joining The Giving Table as well as many more food bloggers across the Nation in partnering and donating our blog posts for Slave-Free Tomatoes. As a mentioned in my first #tomatolove post, numerous supermarkets are partnering up to create Recipe For Change, which is a campaign to spread awareness about the injustice occurring in U.S. tomato fields. Shocking as it may seem, true it is. Within the last 15 years, seven cases of forced labor have been prosecuted resulting in over 1,000 people people freed from slavery in the U.S. tomato fields.

Fortunately, I don’t have any personal stories to connect to, however felt personally connected to the cause. We live in a Nation of freedom and integrity. We are a rich Nation, eating off the fruits of others labor. I take a bite of my tomato and know where it comes from. I know that my neighbors have taken the hours to plant and grow such beautiful produce. I know that when I buy tomatoes from supporting stores, such as Whole Foods and Trader Joes (and I am not marketing them, this is pure factual) that I can savor each bite and know that this was done by the work of hard working farmers.

So what can be done?….Voicing out our concerns to cooperation’s and supermarkets. Those that join the Fair Food Program agree to support an end in tomato farm slavery and therefore abide by promising to shift purchases to the Florida tomato growers who also agree to these high standards.

All we have to do SIGN. A quick petition via online is all we have to do to voice our concern. Take a few seconds and raise a virtual hand for slave free tomatoes.

Sign This Petition with me and many other bloggers.

Roasted panzanella salad is the recipe I am featuring for today’s special topic. I have been aching for this salad for some time now and with the leftover abundance of home-grown tomatoes, I couldn’t wait! This is an Ina Garten recipe-I just lovvvee her! A combination of cool and charred veg dressed with a delicious and simple Dijon vinaigrette. Ina can do no wrong in my book.

If you don’t know what a panzanella salad is, it is a popular Italian salad where day-old bread is broken up and used within the salad. Then the juices of the tomatoes and other vegetables along with the dressing soak into the bread making this a fabulous and hearty dish.

Roasted Panzanella Salad for Slave-Free Tomatoes

Recipe inspired from Ina Garten

Ingredients

Salad

1/2 cucumber peeled and chopped
3-4 to mato cut into cubes
Fresh basil leaves roughly torn
2-3 Tb capers drained
1/2 red onion sliced
5-6 baby bell peppers
1/2 French baguette

Vinaigrette

1/4 olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 Tb red-wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Prepare grill to medium-high heat. Drizzle the onions, peppers and bread with olive oil and grill until charred. When done, remove and set aside.
Chop onions, peppers and bread into desired size, about 1 in pieces. Place in bowl.
Add the chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and capers to the grilled vegetable mixture.
To make the vinaigrette, whisk together the garlic, mustard, vinegar and olive oil.Toss dressing over salad. Season with salt and pepper.