A Delicious, Tuscan Salad Recipe
Looking for an alternative salad to spice up your diet? Why not take a tip from the people who invented the Meditereanean cuisine? Traveling around Tuscany recently, our ‘in-house’ chef, Jacqueline Mitchell, discovered panzanella, a traditional Tuscan salad. It’s like a salad version of the Tuscan soup Acqua Cotta. The history of panzanella is rooted in the rural Italian philosophy of waste-not-want-not. Using day-old or slightly stale bread and fresh vegetables, this is a dish that is great for whipping up on the fly, while also impressing guests.
As with so many traditional Italian vegetable-based dishes (such as the garden-fresh dish Pinzimonio), panzanella’s beauty lies in its variability: add in what you have around! As a base, it is customary to use bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, and red onion. However, we have seen it served with olives, bell peppers, radishes, and other vegetables. Adding or subtracting from panzanella is all about taking full advantage of what you have on hand and what vegetables are in season.
The special touch to this healthy farm-to-table dish is the way it is dressed. A lot of Italian salads are very simply dressed, eg, Salt, Lemon, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. This allows the flavors of the salad and fresh vegetables to shine through, while giving you a boost of citrusy vitamin c from the lemon and a healthy dose of polyphenols from the olive oil. Panzanella is no different; fresh vegetables, a squeeze of lemon and a few spoons of La Maliosa Caletra Extra Virgin Olive Oil or La Maliosa Aurinia Extra Virgin Olive Oil will go a long way to create a healthy base for your meal.
What wine would you pair with this dish? One great choice is Tuscan natural red wine La Maliosa Saturnia Rosso. A medium-bodied red wine, it is great to serve even slightly chilled, and its red wine tannins will also give you an additional polyphenol boost.
Panzanella Tuscan Salad
Cooking and Prep Time: 30 minutes
Portions: 2 servings
Ingredients:
4 Slices Stale Bread
1 Large Cucumber
2 Medium Tomatoes
1/2 Red Onion or 1 Small Red Onion
Sweet White Vinegar
Salt
Fresh Lemon Juice
La Maliosa | Caletra Extra Virgin Olive Oil
To Garnish:
Black Olives
Freshly Chopped Basil
Suggested Wine Pairings:
La Maliosa | Saturnia Rosso Tuscan Red Natural Wine
Procedure:
1. Cube the bread slices in large pieces. Place them in a bowl and add approximately 1 cup of water mixed with 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. Let rest, occasionally gently stirring to allow the mixture to absorb and evenly moisten all the bread.
2. Meanwhile, peel and chop the cucumbers, keeping the pieces slightly smaller than the bread cubes. Place in a bowl and salt, leaving the cucumber to rest and drain. Deseed the tomatoes, and chop them in a similar size as well. Lastly, finely slice the red onion. If desired, the red onion can be set in a small bowl with some white vinegar for 2-3 minutes to dampen its pungency. Drain and use in the salad as normal.
3. Begin to construct the salad by gingerly removing the damp bread from any excess water, gently squeezing out any excess. Sprinkle the bread in a large bowl, creating our bottom layer. Remove the cucumbers from the water they released and add them as a second layer. Lastly, add the tomatoes and red onion.
4. Dress the salad with an extra pinch of salt, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice for brightness. Garnish with some black olives and some fresh chopped basil, if desired. Gently stir and mix before serving and enjoy with a glass of Saturnia Rosso Tuscan Red Natural Wine.