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Panzanella Salad
Traditional Italian Panzanella salad is served chilled and is usually prepared in the summer to satisfy not only hunger but also thirst. In the classic version, the salad consists of stale bread soaked in tomato juice, olive oil, spices, and, of course, ripe sweet tomatoes. This is the base of Panzanella. Then there are variations. The most well-known composition of the salad includes the addition of fresh cucumbers, garlic, sweet purple onion, and basil.
Preparation time: 15 minutes.
Ingredients
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- sweet tomatoes – 400 g;
- fresh cucumbers – 170 g;
- purple sweet onion (salad type) – 80 g;
- green basil leaves – 15 g;
- any bread, just not rye – 120 g;
- olive oil – 8 tablespoons;
- 6% fruit vinegar – 1 tablespoon;
- garlic – 2 cloves;
- Provençal herbs – 1 teaspoon;
- salt, pepper – to taste.
Preparation
- Prepare the ingredients. It is better to take not very fresh bread – the kind that has been sitting in the room for a couple of days. If you still want to prepare the salad immediately, and only fresh rolls are available, they can be dried in the oven or on a skillet until lightly crusted.
- Cut the bread into cubes of 2 centimeters.
- Fry them in a skillet so that the inside remains soft, and the edges harden (this will take about 3 minutes over high heat).
- Cut the tomatoes into four pieces, and use a small spoon to scoop out the pulp and seeds into a separate container.
- Blend the chosen pulp in a blender until smooth.
- Pour this thick tomato juice into a bowl and add the olive oil.
- Squeeze in the garlic.
- Pour in the fruit vinegar.
- Season with Provençal herbs.
- The dressing for the salad is almost ready. Just add salt and pepper to taste. Mix everything well.
- Now you can start assembling the salad. Place the croutons in a large salad bowl.
- Add the dressing to them – it will best soak and soften the bread pieces, making them irresistibly tasty.
- Cut the cucumber into not very thin half-moons.
- Add them to the salad bowl.
- The remaining pulp from the tomatoes, which consists of thick fleshy wedges, is cut into 2-3 pieces.
- Place them on top of the cucumbers.
- Cut the purple onion in half, then slice it thinly.
- Transfer the onion strips into the overall mixture.
- Tear the basil leaves by hand into the salad bowl if they are large.
- Mix everything, lifting the croutons from the bottom along with the dressing that has not absorbed into them. All components should be evenly distributed in the salad. Check the mixture for salt one more time. Place the finished dish in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes – it should soak up all the juices and flavors better and cool down.
The appetizing, wonderfully fragrant vegetable Panzanella salad with bread is ready. Despite the fact that there are many variations of this dish, one must approach the choice of additional ingredients very carefully – not all of them harmoniously complement the base, and it may end up being a completely different, non-Italian salad.
