PANZANELLA
Another Tuscan classic for those days when we have bread leftover.
For those who haven't tried it, a salad based on stale bread doesn't sound that exciting, but if all the other ingredients are fresh this is a great dish.
- 1 cup red wine vinegar
- Stale bread (I used one ciabatta)
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and
coarsely chopped
- 3 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
- A handful of basil leaves
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Start by soaking the stale bread. I tore it into chunks and soaked for 30 minutes in a mixture of 5 cups of cold water and 1 cup of red wine vinegar.
Whilst that soaked I prepared the rest of the salad, coarsely chopping the tomatoes and cucumber, cutting the red onion into thin slices and tearing up the basil leaves.
Squeeze out the excess water from the bread and then crumble it into a salad bowl before adding the other ingredients, olive oil and seasoning. Toss well and serve.
