11 September 2019

Panzanella salad


This is my personal version of a panzanella salad — a bread salad that's originally Italian. It's a salad, originally, of tomato, cucumber, onion, and large toasted croutons. What makes it different is that you dress the salad and croutons with vinaigrette and let it "marinate" for an hour or so in the refrigerator so that the chunks of bread absorb some of the vinegar and oil dressing. Here's Jamie Oliver's recipe, and another recipe on a site called Serious Eats.






I substituted diced zucchini for the diced cucumber, and I put in roasted sweet red peppers that I bought at the supermarket. The tomatoes, zucchini, and basil that went into the salad came from our vegetable garden. I used a mix of red and yellow cherry tomatoes.




To make the salad into a full meal, I added some cut up roasted chicken breast and some diced cheese — mozzarella and a ewe's milk cheese (tomme de brebis) called Lou Pérac from the Averyron in south central France. We have both green and purple basil growing in this summer's garden.




The base of the salad is bread and lettuce. I had some crunchy butter lettuce, but something like romaine would be really good in it. And I had stale and frozen bread that I had saved for making croutons. I cut the bread up and tossed it with a little bit of olive oil before I toasted it in the oven.



Instead of onions, I put a diced shallot in the salad. Or in the dressing, actually. I put the diced shallot in vinegar — a combination of balsamic vinegar and white wine (Chardonnay) vinegar. In theory, soaking for 30 to 60 minutes in the vinegar will slightly "cook" the shallot and make it easier to digest. It also gives good flavor to the dressing, which also includes olive oil and some dried oregano.

Here's the salad on the plate, after being tossed with the dressing and put in the fridge to rest for an hour. I didn't think we would, but we ate the whole thing! It made a good lunch, and then I had the last of it as an evening snack. Delicious.

15 comments:

  1. This looks delicious and the marinating must have added even more flavor. We're back in the high 80s and salads sound like a great meal.

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  2. This looks great and the olive oil/moisture softens the bread. Like a pain perdu salad!

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    1. There was enough dressing to flavor and moisten the toasted croutons without making them too soft or mushy.

      T'house, forecasts for Saint-Aignan say we're going to hit 90F again for a few days over the coming week. More salads with tomatoes are on the menu.

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  3. Just saw this recipe that could make use of your tomatoes - https://alexandracooks.com/2019/09/10/israeli-spiced-tomato-and-chickpea-salad-with-yogurt-sauce/print-recipe/64936/

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    1. Thanks, I'll have a look at that.... I just did and I was interested in Alexandra's method of soaking dried beans in salted water. I'll have to try that.

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  4. Because I'm jealous of your summertime tomato haul of tasty toms, I thought I'd share the classic NPR interview, "How Industrial Farming 'Destroyed' The Tasty Tomato:"

    https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=137371975

    Quote..."as a farmer said - an honest farmer - I don't get paid a cent for flavor. I get paid by the pound, pure and simple." This applies to American tomatoes.

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    1. In France, industrial agriculture hasn't yet completely killed the taste and flavor of tomatoes as it has in the US.

      Every day, I gorge myself on store bought tomatoes that are still reminiscent of fhose produced fiffty years ago or more!

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    2. I can't remember the last time I bought an American tomato. I'm usually over there in late winter, early spring, or in autumn. Wouldn't buy tomatoes at those times of year.

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    3. chm lucky you are to find them in the city! Here, we don't bother anymore with the produce, even in the summer!

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  5. Looks delish. I like the idea of marinating the shallots, rather the way you "cook" fish to make ceviche. You could likely use garbanzo beans instead of meat, or even in addition to.
    I'm with Diogenes re tomatoes and their taste.

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    1. I don't know where or when we got that set of salad servers, but they are nice.

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    2. Oops, put my comment above in the wrong place. Yes, garbanzos or red kidney beans would be good in this salad.

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  6. Nice salad servers, too. That's a very attractive set.

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  7. Salad for dinner is one of my favorites!
    I love sautéed zucchini,by itself or tossed with something else.
    My husband loved feta, I don't:) but marinated mozzarella is nice.

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    1. Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese would be good in this salad. The zucchini in the salad were raw.

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