INGREDIENTS

Serves 2 – Scale up ingredients to desired serving size.

A traditional panzanella takes leftover Tuscan bread, torn into bite-sized chunks, and soaks it in water to rehydrate it before tossing it with tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and basil, with a good glug of olive oil and red wine vinegar. The beauty of this recipe is that there isn’t really a recipe, but here are some guidelines:

A few slices of stale bread (any kind you have on hand; the point of this is to use up leftovers…but we like sourdough best) - 6-8 merinda tomatoes; 3 pachino or Roma tomatoes; or 2 cuore di bue tomatoes (but we like merinda best) - 1/2 of a red onion - 1/2of a large cucumber - 1 bunch fresh basil - Salt - Pepper - Red wine vinegar - Extra virgin olive oil

PREPARATION

1. First, slice the onions into very thin strips, and transfer them to an ice bath. This will take out some of the bite from the onion and give them a softer, sweeter taste. Let sit in the fridge for at least 20 minutes while you prepare the rest.
2. Tear your bread into small chunks; tearing the bread rather than cutting it is important for texture and creates a greater surface area to soak up all the yummy juices. Put the bread in a bowl, and sprinkle a little bit of water over it. The pieces should all be wet to the touch but not saturated. Let it sit for about 15 minutes or until the water has rehydrated the bread and it feels soggy but not mushy. If you’re using fresh bread, there’s no need to soak it, so skip this step.
3. In the meantime, dice your tomatoes and cucumber. Pick your basil, smack it between your palms to release the aroma, and tear up 10 or so leaves
4. Now here’s our special trick: once the bread is hydrated, heat up a little bit of olive oil in a skillet, and toss in the bread, keeping the heat on medium-high so that the edges of the bread begin to turn crispy and golden brown, but the rest of it remains soft and spongy. Some pieces will be more toasty than others and that’s ok, that’s what you’re looking for. If you prefer, you can also do this in the oven–just douse your bread in a good amount of olive oil and toast it on a sheet tray until golden.
5. Transfer all the ingredients to a bowl, drizzle with a good glug of olive oil and red wine vinegar, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Give it a good toss with your hands, making sure that everything is mixed together well.
6. You can eat it right away, but we recommend letting it sit either in the fridge or at room temperature for about an hour, so that the bread can sop up the juice from the tomatoes, and the cucumber and onions can lightly marinate in the vinegar.

Thanks to Italy Segreta for this recipe.

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