A match for rustic bread salad

<p>Our Wine of the Week, St. Francis 2005 Sonoma County Merlot ($22), is an excellent wine for late summer.</p><p>It is big and rich, with a bounty of ripe fruit that spreads over the palate with a voluptuousness that mirrors summer's harvest.</p><p>Aromas suggest soil dried in the summer sun and sweet berries still hanging on the vines, their leaves beginning to tire and sink back into themselves. Squeeze a little warm juice out of a berry, lift it to your nose and breath in: That's this wine.</p><p>Most New World merlots with this much ripe fruit also have rough oak tannins. Yet this one has a pretty clarity, a quality that lingers on the palate.</p><p>Only at the end, when you are ready for another sip, do you detect a roughness, a dryness that will resolve over time. Mingling with this cool translucence are intimations of rhubarb and sweet cherries.</p><p>All in all, the wine offers a delicious mouthful of complex and engaging flavors and textures, with a refreshing quality not usually found in the varietal.</p><p>When it comes to pairing the wine at the table, look first to our seasonal abundance. Almost anything with ripe tomatoes and ripe sweet peppers will welcome this wine, as will grilled chicken, grilled sausages, tri-tip, barbecued ribs and the like.</p><p>It will be flattered by both goat cheese and Cheddar cheese and is a good partner for pizza.</p><p>Korean-style beef, slathered with a sweet sauce, is an ideal match, as is the sensational grilled eel served at Honey Cuisine (1712 East Cotati Ave., Cotati), a new Korean barbecue and sushi restaurant.</p><p>For today's recipe, I've chosen a recipe that is as flexible as it is rustic, a traditional bread salad in the Italian style.</p><p>The dressing, with a depth of flavor provided by anchovies and tomatoes, engages the wine more than a vinaigrette with brighter notes -- lemon, say, or white wine vinegar -- would do.</p><p>Serve it as a side dish or, to make a meal of it, consult the variation at the end of the recipe.</p><p>Warm Bread Salad with Italian Fontina</p><p>Serves 4 to 6</p><p>1 garlic clove, peeled and minced</p><p>4 flat anchovy fillets</p><p>1 tablespoon capers</p><p>2 to 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar</p><p>1 small tomato, peeled, seeded and minced</p><p>-- Kosher salt</p><p>» cup cup extra virgin olive oil</p><p>½ loaf stale hearth bread, cut into 1-inch cubes</p><p>-- Olive oil</p><p>2 bell peppers, roasted, seeded and cut in medium julienne</p><p>¼ cup minced black olives of choice</p><p>½ cucumber, peeled and cut into ¼-inch dice</p><p>1 small red onion, minced</p><p>2 cups cherry tomatoes, preferably mixed colors, quartered</p><p>6 ounces Italian fontina, in small pieces</p><p>3 tablespoons minced fresh Italian parsley</p><p>-- Black pepper in a mill</p><p>Put the garlic and anchovies into a suribachi or large mortar and use a wooden pestle to grind to a paste. Add the capers, crush them and mix into the paste. Add the vinegar, tomato and generous sprinkling of salt. Stir in the olive oil and set aside.</p><p>Pour about ¼ inch of olive oil into a large saute pan set over medium heat and when it is warm, add the bread. Saute, turning frequently, until the bread is golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer to absorbent paper to drain briefly.</p><p>With the bread still warm, transfer it to a large salad bowl.</p><p>Add the peppers, olives, cucumber, red onion and tomatoes and toss gently but thoroughly.</p><p>Add the cheese, dressing and parsley and toss again.</p><p>Season with several turns of black pepper, taste and correct for salad.</p><p>Serve warm.</p><p>Variation: Fry two or three Italian sausages of choice until fully cooked, let rest for 2 or 3 minutes and then cut into ¨-inch thick rounds.</p><p>Add to the salad along with the cheese.</p><p>Michele Anna Jordan can be contacted via e-mail at michele@micheleannajordan.com.</p>