File this under “everything old is new again” – panzanella, the Italian bread salad, is a harmonious marriage between old and new. Leftover stale bread added to vibrant summer produce leads to a winning seasonal dish.
The “old” of panzanella is further linked to the Italian tradition of using up leftovers. With all due respect to the more recent – and vitally necessary – emphasis on reducing food waste around the world, Italians have been making do with leftovers for centuries. Day-old risotto becomes arancini (fried rice balls), last night’s spaghetti transforms into a breakfast pasta frittata and squishy grapes find new life as high-gravity grappa.
Bread is especially well-suited to Italian leftover reincarnation. Besides, bread and other baked goods are in particular need of creative recycling because uneaten bread is a major component of food waste.
In his book “American Wasteland” (Da Capo Press, 2010), Durham, N.C., blogger, journalist and food waste expert Jonathan Bloom reported that supermarkets waste a lot of bread: “Bread and baked goods are by far the most commonly wasted foods at supermarkets.”
All the more reason to find reuses for this daily staple, and the Italians are on it. For example, old loaves show up in Italian soups like ribollita (bread, bean and vegetable soup) and pappa al pomodoro (bread and tomato soup), and milk-soaked bread or bread crumbs are used in meatballs.
Appreciation for the particular charms of panzanella is so old it was documented in ancient literature. Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio mentioned “pan lavato,” or washed bread, in his 14th-century opus “The Decameron.” Florentine Renaissance poet and painter Agnolo di Cosimo, otherwise known as Bronzino, waxed poetic about the salad in the 16th century:
“He who wishes to fly above the stars / dip his bread and eat to bursting / a salad of chopped onion / with purslane and cucumbers / wins every other pleasure of this life / consider if I were to add some basil / and rocket.”
Yet, for all its romantic associations, panzanella has quite humble origins. In her book “The Classic Italian Cookbook,” doyenne of authentic Italian cuisine Marcella Hazan brought the rustic salad down to earth: “This salad was originally the poor man’s dinner in parts of Tuscany and Rome.”
So what’s “new” about panzanella? A lot! The salad has undergone a bit of a renaissance since the Renaissance. You’ll notice that Bronzino’s recipe does not include a single tomato because tomatoes were not introduced to Italy until the 1500s. However, today’s panzanella recipes often contain that New World ingredient.
Also, early panzanellas were not made with the cubed, toasted bread popular in recipes today. They were made with saltless Tuscan country bread that was soaked in water, squeezed and added to the salad to give it additional heft. (This method of reviving stale bread was apparently popular with ancient Italian mariners, who liked to dip their dried-out chunks in sea water before eating.)
The wet-bread method is not as popular today, perhaps in part because it’s not easy to find the authentic Tuscan bread that works better when soaked. While Hazan acknowledges the authenticity of the wet-bread technique in her book, she said, “I much prefer this version, however decadent it may be, in which the waterlogged bread is replaced by crisp squares of bread fried in olive oil.”
Really, every dish of panzanella has new elements because it incorporates the freshest produce available. If you’re lucky to have your own garden, your salad will have fresh-from-the-soil cucumbers, just-picked tomatoes and scissor-snipped basil. If the farmer’s market is your source for produce, your panzanella ingredients are likely to be very recently harvested from the farm. The latest and greatest from the vegetable patch or vine (or fruit orchard) are just the things to extend the life of your mature bread in panzanella form.
One last note: A lot of recipes recommend that the longer the salad sits, the better it gets. However, you don’t want the salad to sit so long that the bread gets soggy. It should still have some structure to it when it’s time to eat. And most panzanellas are best served the day they’re made.
However, if you find yourself with last night’s tomato panzanella in your fridge, you can experiment with making gazpacho out of the leftovers by whirring an extra tomato or two with the salad in a food processor. Yet another way to make the old new again – it would make an Italian grandmother proud.
CLASSIC TOMATO PANZANELLA
This classic tomato panzanella recipe is the updated version with summer tomatoes and crouton-like bread cubes. Feel free to experiment: Use different kinds of breads and vegetables, stir in cheeses like mozzarella, parmesan or feta or add other new ingredients like olives, capers, hard-boiled eggs, pine nuts or whatever else you like in a salad. In a pinch, a store-bought balsamic or red wine vinegar dressing may stand in for the homemade vinaigrette. Inspired by an Ina Garten recipe.
Makes 6 servings
VINAIGRETTE:
One regular clove or 1/2 of a large clove of garlic
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 grinds black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
SALAD:
4 cups of 1-inch bread cubes cut from a loaf of leftover rustic French or Italian bread (roughly half of a large loaf)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
4 small or two medium-sized ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cucumber peeled, seeded, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 red, yellow or orange bell pepper, cut into 1-inch cubes
14 basil leaves, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
Make the vinaigrette: Mince garlic as finely as possible, then smash it against the cutting board with the side of the knife. Place in a bowl with the vinegars, mustard and salt and pepper. Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking constantly until all of the oil is incorporated. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed. Let vinaigrette sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before adding to the salad.
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Toss the bread cubes in 1 tablespoon olive oil; add more oil if needed to coat the bread cubes thoroughly without drenching them. Spread the cubes on a sheet pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the bread is crispy like a crouton. Let the bread cool.
Make the salad: Mix tomatoes, cucumber, onion and bell peppers in a salad bowl. Slice 10 of the basil leaves into thin ribbons and add to salad. Add 2 tablespoons vinaigrette to salad and let sit for 15 minutes. Add the bread cubes and the remaining vinaigrette, mix everything together and let sit for at least an hour or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Right before serving, top the salad with the remaining four basil leaves cut into ribbons.
CORNBREAD PANZANELLA WITH SPICY CILANTRO RANCH DRESSING
Though it retains some of the elements of the classic recipe (tomato, onion), panzanella gets an even newer spin with this cornbread version. The texture is rather crumbly, similar to a Thanksgiving cornbread dressing. Feel free to substitute your favorite cornbread recipe, or you may use store-bought cornbread, but keep in mind that the recipe works best with a cornbread that’s not sweet.
Serve this as a side dish for grilled meats like ribs, pork chops, turkey or chicken. Unlike other panzanellas, this dish tastes great the next day – it just might need to be freshened up with extra dressing and salt and pepper.
One note: If you don’t want to grill the corn, you can prepare it as you like. The dressing recipe makes about a pint, which is more than you need. It will keep for five days in the refrigerator.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
FOR THE DRESSING:
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons lime juice
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped chives
3 to 4 dashes hot sauce
4 grinds black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
FOR THE SALAD:
2 small or 1 medium-sized ripe tomato, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 jalapeno, seeds and membranes removed, finely chopped
2 ears corn
1 (8.5-ounce) box cornbread mix, prepared, or 5-6 cups of leftover cornbread, cut into ½-inch cubes
5 pieces cooked bacon, crumbled
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Make dressing: Place garlic, buttermilk, lime juice, mayonnaise, cilantro, chives and hot sauce in a food processor and finely chop. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if needed. Let dressing sit in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes.
Mix tomato, onion and jalapeno in a salad bowl. Add a tablespoon of spicy cilantro dressing to the vegetables and mix. Let vegetables sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Grill the corn on a hot grill for 10 to 15 minutes until the corn is charred all over. Let corn cool, then slice the corn off the cob and add to the vegetables.
Fold the cornbread into the vegetables (mixture will be crumbly). Add 1/4 cup dressing until incorporated. Add additional dressing if needed until the salad is slightly moist but the cornbread is not drenched. Fold in bacon crumbles and cilantro. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Let salad sit for 15 minutes before serving.
PEACH BLUEBERRY PANZANELLA WITH LEMON WHIPPED CREAM
The dessert take on this ancient salad is similar mostly in concept, but not in ingredients or even general execution. Peaches and blueberries taste great together, but the dessert would work just as well with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, cherries, nectarines or plums. Also, leftover angel food cake would be a fine substitute for the pound cake. Makes 4 servings
4 cups leftover pound cake, or one thawed 10.75-ounce frozen pound cake, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
4 tablespoons melted butter
4 ripe peaches
3/4 cup blueberries
2 teaspoons sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
WHIPPED LEMON CREAM:
1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon peel
2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place metal mixing bowl and beaters in the freezer for the lemon whipped cream.
Toss pound cake cubes with melted butter. Spread cubes on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool.
Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Prepare a bowl with water and ice. Score the bottom of the peaches with a paring knife.
Carefully place peaches in the boiling water. After about 40 seconds, remove the peaches from the hot water and place immediately in the ice bath to shock them. After about 1 minute, remove the peaches from the ice water. Peel the peaches, then cut the peaches into 1/2-inch cubes.
Place the peaches in a bowl with the blueberries. Add sugar and lemon juice to the fruit and stir thoroughly. Place the fruit in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes until you are ready to assemble the dessert.
Once you are ready to serve, prepare the lemon whipped cream with the chilled metal bowl and beaters. Combine heavy whipping cream, 2 tablespoons sugar, lemon peel and 2 teaspoons lemon juice in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat to soft peaks. (Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill. Rewhisk before using.)
Divide the pound cake cubes into four dessert bowls. Spread the fruit over the pound cake, then top each serving with lemon whipped cream. Serve immediately.
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