Panzanella
Living in Tuscany, it’s always important to have a use for yesterday’s bread because it becomes like a bullet overnight due to its lack of salt. Tomatoes are great friends with bread and a host of other ingredients, particularly cucumber, red onion, olives, capers, basil, oregano, white cheeses…. and the list could go on. So you can pretty much try any combination and see how you prefer it.
It’s worth remembering this fruit has a high water content, so you need to consider summer-ripe tomatoes will give plenty of juice, especially when salted.
INGREDIENTS
500g Ripe Tomatoes
500g Yesterday’s bread
1 Red Onion, finely sliced
3 Celery stalks, finely sliced (I usually include the leaves as well)
4 tbsp Flat leaf parsley, chopped
15 Basil leaves, roughly torn
8tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We love this with Il Sincero from Marco Viola, the peppery spice of the Moraiolo cultivar lifts the bread to a new degree
3tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
Flaked sea salt and ground black pepper
METHOD
Slice the bread and leave out for an hour or two to fully dry out. Then break into chunks and put into a bowl with enough cold water to just cover the bread. Leave for around 10 minutes to soften and then squeeze out the bread thoroughly with your hands and then crumble through your fingers into your salad bowl.
Put the tomatoes, onions, celery, parsley and basil into a smaller bowl and dress with the olive oil, vinegar and seasoning.
Mix the tomatoes into the bread and adjust the seasoning before serving.