Recipe: Tasty Panzanella

Panzanella. In this Barefoot Contessa video, Ina Garten's panzanella salad is a terrific way to use up stale or leftover bread. But panzanella is more than just another tomato salad with some croutons - give everything about a half hour to mingle and mix, and this bread salad goes from "pretty good" to a bona fide. Panzanella is a colorful and hearty Italian salad that puts to good use juicy tomatoes and stale bread.

This salad is flexible, so make it to your liking! Need a side dish for a summer BBQ? Panzanella is an Italian salad made from pieces of stale, moistened bread, with the addition of tomatoes, onions, or basil, and a dressing of vinegar and olive oil. You can have Panzanella using 18 ingredients and 3 steps. Here is how you cook that.

Ingredients of Panzanella

1. You need 5 slices of ready-made garlic toast (about 3/4 in thick).
2. You need 1 of medium red bell pepper, de-seeded and chopped.
3. You need 1/2 of English cucumber, de-seeded and chopped.
4. You need 6 of baby tomatoes (I used 2 colour romanellas).
5. It's 1 handful of cherry tomatoes, halved.
6. It's 3 tbsp of capers.
7. It's 1 of shallot, finely chopped.
8. It's 2 tbsp of fresh dill, chopped.
9. It's 3 tbsp of fresh basil, chopped.
10. You need of Zest of 1 lemon.
11. You need of Zest of 1 orange.
12. You need 2 cloves of garlic, minced.
13. Prepare 1/4 cup of white wine vinegar.
14. Prepare 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil.
15. It's 1/2 tbsp of dried oregano.
16. It's 1 tsp of sea salt.
17. You need 1/2 tbsp of freshly cracked black pepper.
18. It's of Parmesan cheese.

The salad is a specialty of Tuscany. Traditional panzanella is made with stale, dried bread that's rehydrated from a dressing of sweet tomato juices, vinegar and plenty of olive oil. This version also includes some mozzarella for richness. Panzanella is really a way to use up crusty bread that has gotten hard and to celebrate perfect summer tomatoes.

Panzanella step by step

1. Put a large nonstick pan on medium heat. Your garlic toast should already come pre-buttered, so just put it in the pan for a few minutes per side to toast it up. When they're crunchy and slightly scorched, remove them to cool..
2. Put the bell pepper, cucumber, tomatoes, capers, shallot, dill, basil and lemon and orange zest in a large mixing bowl..
3. Whisk together the garlic, vinegar, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing into the bowl of veg. Cut the garlic toast into bite-sized pieces and add them as well. Toss everything together, then refrigerate 30 minutes to overnight. When serving, use a veggie peeler to top the salad with slivers of parmesan cheese..

It is a cooling summertime salad that relies on the bread as the "filler" to soak up the juices. Heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Prepare your own version of one of Tuscany's most famous dishes, panzanella. It's a good way to use up leftovers, as it's made with. Panzanella, the Italian bread and tomato salad, is a great way to use up a stale loaf.

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