Tuscan Panzanella
A summer bread salad: toasted chunks of day-old bread soak up the juice of salted ripe tomatoes, red wine vinegar and good olive oil, with cucumber, red onion and basil.
Chef's note This is a salad for August tomatoes and bread that's gone a little hard.
Chef's note This is a salad for August tomatoes and bread that's gone a little hard. Pale winter tomatoes won't give you enough juice, so use cherry tomatoes in the cold months.
Ingredients
- 8 oz day-old crusty bread about half a loaf, torn into bite-size pieces
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil divided
- 1 tsp kosher salt divided
- 2 lb ripe tomatoes mixed sizes, cut into chunks
- ½ small red onion thinly sliced
- 1 English cucumber
- 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 clove garlic finely grated
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves torn
Steps
Heat the oven to 400°F. Toss 8 oz day-old crusty bread with 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil and ¼ tsp kosher salt on a sheet pan and toast 10 to 12 minutes, until golden and crisp outside but still a little chewy inside. Let it cool.
Put 2 lb ripe tomatoes in a large bowl with ½ tsp kosher salt and let them sit 10 minutes so they release their juice. Don't drain it. That juice is the dressing.
Meanwhile, soak ½ small red onion in cold water 10 minutes to soften its bite, then drain. Halve 1 English cucumber lengthwise and slice it into half moons.
Whisk 3 tbsp red wine vinegar, 1 clove garlic, the rest of the salt (¼ tsp kosher salt) and ½ tsp black pepper into the tomato juices, then whisk in the remaining oil (6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil).
Add the bread, cucumber, onion and 1 cup fresh basil leaves. Toss well and let it sit 10 to 15 minutes so the bread drinks up the dressing. Serve the same day.
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