Panzanella (Bread Salad)
We had a wonderful meal at one of our favorite Italian eateries recently that had an octopus salad as a featured first course. It had large chunks of tender grilled octopus mixed with capers, pickled onions, lemon and brushed garlic croutons with a drizzle of olive oil. It was absolutely delicious and made me remember how much I love both octopus and bread salads. Unfortunately I’m much more apt to have a stale loaf of bread in the house than an octopus waiting to be cooked.
We’re just starting to see flowers and wee baby green tomatoes forming on the nine different varieties of tomato plants we purchased this year. We both get so excited about tomato season that we start eating supermarket tomatoes that we wouldn’t even normally buy, focusing our attention with every mouthful on what the future holds for us. In this case, we were able to relive the memorable octopus salad and get a taste of what summer has in store, with the best we can do for the time.
I know that the idea of a bread salad seems a little strange to the unitiated, but it is well worth trying. Of course, since the whole purpose is to reliven stale bread, it is essential to use good quality ingredients to do so. In essence this salad is nothing more than bread, tomatoes, onions, basil and vinaigrette, so when I make a salad like this I crack out the good balsamic, use the coarse Italian sea salt I usually forget I own and be generous with the olive oil I would drink by the glass if it weren’t frowned upon and cost prohibitive.
This is a great way of making use of stale bread that might otherwise end up in the garbage can or fed to the birds.
- 1 shallot or small sweet onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 stale ciabatta rolls, cut in half (or 6 slices of stale baguette)
- 1 clove garlic, halved
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- (optional) 1/2 pound asparagus, blanched and chopped
- 1/4 cup basil, chopped
- 3-4 tablespoons water
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper
- Preheat the oven broiler to high with a rack positioned as high as possible
- Combine the shallot, white vinegar and sugar in a small bowl with a pinch of salt and set aside for ten minutes. This will extract some of the heat and astrigency from the onion.
- Line the ciabatta on a baking sheet and place under the broiler. Toast until golden brown, then remove from the oven and brush the cut surface with the garlic clove while they’re still warm.
- Chop the bread into bite-sized cube and toss into a bowl with the tomatoes, asparagus (if using) and basil. Rinse the shallot under cold running water and add to the salad as well. Pour a few tablespoons of water into the bowl and toss with tongs so that it absorbs evenly into the bread, then dress the salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Season the salad to taste with salt and pepper and serve relatively soon so that the bread does not become soggy.