In my house, summer means no inside oven if I can possibly help it. These last few days have been just so hot and sticky so I thought I would share one of my favorite go-to summer salads. This salad is super simple and delicious and requires little time. As a kid this bread and tomato salad was a staple for us, we always had a ton of tomatoes in the garden and the stale bread drawer was always full of crusty bread that is perfect for this!
Panzanella is a Tuscan chopped salad of soaked stale bread, onions, and tomatoes that is popular in the summer. It often includes cucumbers, sometimes basil, and is dressed with olive oil and vinegar. For the bread part, I like to use crusty Italian.
2-3 large ripe tomatoes cut into cubes ( I like to use Heirlooms if available but any large sweet tomato will do)
1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper cut into cubes
1/2 red onion sliced thin
1 medium cucumber sliced into chunks
1/2 C kalamata olives (capers are also a nice addition)
2 C cubed Italian or another crusty bread preferably a bit stale ( Perrecas works perfectly for this) sorry if you’re not local!
I also add fresh chopped basil and parsley which right now are on steroids in my little garden.
Toss everything into a bowl and drizzle with 1/2 c olive oil and about 1/4 C of vinegar, either red wine or balsamic
Salt and pepper to taste Side note: I am hooked on the olive oil from Fred the Butcher, it is their brand pressed in Italy and bottled and sold here and is some of the best and sweetest I have ever had!
