Regarding the request for salad:
Are you sure it had mozzarella? A lot of people thank the bread in this
salad is mozzarella.

Italian Salad

2 large ripe tomatoes, cut into bite-size pieces
1 small cucumber, peeled and diced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, very finely minced
1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces with your hands
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar, plus more as needed
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 slices thick stale country style Italian bread, torn into bite-size
pieces
(sourdough is also good but not something you use here in Italy

In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, garlic and basil.
Drizzle with the 1/2 cup olive oil and the 3 Tbsp vinegar, season with
salt and pepper and toss well

.. Place half of the bread in a wide, shallow bowl. If the bread is quite
stale and dry, you should first spoon a few Tbsp of water over the bread
and let it soak some of the water up, then with your hands squeeze all of
the water out and place bread in a different bowl before proceeding. If it
isn't too stale then you can skip this step . Spoon half of the tomato
mixture over the bread. Layer the remaining bread on top and then the
remaining tomato mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour or
until serving time. Just before serving, toss the salad and adjust the
seasonings with salt and pepper. At this point the bread should have
absorbed the water from the tomatoes and be all moist. If the bread seems
dry for some reason, add a little bit of olive oil and toss well. Serve
immediately.


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