Panzanella (Tuscan Bread Salad) Adapted from Divina Cucina www.divinacucina.com
This Mediterranean salad is an example of the green, white, and red colors of the Italian flag. The record of panzanella goes back many years. In the 1500’s, a poem by the famous artist Bronzino describes the salad. At that time, the tomato had not been introduced into Italy yet. The ingredients were limited to cucumber, onion, basil, arugula, and bread.
The Italian bread is salt-free, so they add salt to the salad recipe. According to the recipe, it is important to use bread without preservatives and let it go stale. You can cut the Wave Hill Bread thickly and let it dry. Or, you can use Wave Hill Breads Croutons or Bread Cubes. The traditional recipe aims for a crumbed bread texture. Here’s the recipe:
1 pound stale bread (the loaf of Wave Hill Breads’ Pain de Campagne is a 20 ounces; the bags of croutons contain 6.5 ounces)
3 tomatoes, cut into eighths 2 red onions, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced Basil, olive oil, vinegar, and salt (if desired)
Soak the stale bread in cold water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the water and crumble the bread into a serving bowl. Add tomatoes, cucumber, onions, and basil. Season with olive oil and salt, if desired. Mix well and let sit. Before serving, add vinegar and mix again. Serve with olive oil, vinegar, and salt on the side. Have fun adding ingredients if you desire.
Tomato Fennel Corn Salad with
Wave Hill Breads’ Lemony-Thyme Croutons de Campagne
Serves 4-6
1 large fennel bulb with feathery tops removed chopped into 1/2" dice
3 large garden tomatoes seeded and chopped into 1/2" dice
Kernels of corn cut from 3 cooked ears of corn
Wave Hill Lemony-Thyme Croutons - 1/2 bag – approx. 3 ounces
(Other Wave Hill Croutons can be substituted. If you use the Garlic Croutons, go light on the additional garlic.)
Salad dressing
3/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic whole
1 tsp Dijon mustard
Shake until combined. It's best to make this a day ahead to let the flavors come together.
Put the fennel, tomatoes, corn and Wave Hill Croutons into a heavy duty plastic bag and add salad dressing to lightly coat. Leave at room temperature for several hours shaking the bag gently every once in a while to evenly coat.
You may want to add black beans for taste and color, but not too many.
Recipe developed by Susan Jacoby for Wave Hill Breads.