Panzanella
Panzanella is a delicious Tuscan salad that got its roots using up stale bread. Originally the bread was soaked in water and wrung dry; but its evolved and now the toasted bread cubes soak up olive oil and red wine vinegar. This basic salad consists of tomatoes, onions and bread, but add cucumbers or olives if you wish.
Panzanella
We split this salad in half, one half is full gluten with the bread: and the other GF by replacing the bread with torn pieces of fresh mozzarella. Serve by itself for lunch or as part of dinner with barbequed chicken or ground chuck. Start the salad about an hour before you plan on serving it. Serves 2 in our house, and if only making one type; gluten or GF just make 1 salad instead of dividing up.
Ingredients
- ½ lb. (227 gr) tomatoes
- 1/4 cup (20 gr) shallots finely sliced
- 2 TBSP red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ tsp. garlic minced
- ½ tsp. Dijon
- ½ tsp. thyme finely chopped
- ¼ cup (5 gr) basil, slivered
PANZANELLA WITH BREAD
- 2 oz. (56 gr) Ciabatta Bread, cut
- ½ TBSP olive oil to drizzle
PANZANELLA WITH MOZZARELLA
- 2 oz. (56 gr) fresh mozzarella, torn
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 400.
- Place cut tomatoes in a flat dish and sprinkle with ¼ tsp. salt. (Halve grape or cherry tomatoes or quarter tomatoes on the vine). Let rest 30 minutes.
- Thinly slice shallots and place in a small dish along with 2 TBSP red wine vinegar. Let rest 30 minutes.
- Cut a thick slice of Ciabatta (or whatever bread you are using – adjust weight and Carbs if necessary). Cut into 1-inch by 1-inch pieces.
- Place cut bread on a baking sheet and drizzle with ½ TBSP of olive oil and a light sprinkle of salt.
- Cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Meanwhile mix ¼ cup olive oil, Dijon and thyme in a small dish and set aside.
- Slice basil and set aside.
- When tomatoes and shallots are ready, mix them together along with dressing and basil. Toss and if making both gluten and GF, divide salad into two servings of 152 grams each.
- Toss one salad with the bread cubes and the other with fresh mozzarella.
- Let each salad rest for 20 minutes and serve.
Notes
This salad pairs beautifully with a good, dry Rose. There’s lots of acidity with the tomatoes and vinegar, but the cheese and/or bread settles the flavours down enough that a Rose works.
We’ve paired:
• Quail’s Gate Lucy’s Block
• Chateau Pesquie “Terrasses” Rose