Italian Panzanella recipe: doing it the Roman way

Panzanella is a typical Tuscan dish that has many variations. One of those variations is the Roman one, which can also be made in different ways. Explaining it is more complicated than doing it.

Basically, it is soaked stale bread seasoned with olive oil and fresh vegetables.

It can be done in the traditional way, breaking the bread into small pieces and making a salad, or by using the bread as a base.

Since I seem to have understood that the British really like to use bread as a "dish", I chose to do it this way... almost like an open sandwich.

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It is a salad made of stale bread, with tomatoes, red onion, basil, oregano, white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. The ingredients may vary depending on what you have in the fridge or in the garden.

If you find sourdough bread, it is excellent; otherwise, you could use durum wheat bread, which is perfect. However, do not buy fresh white bread or soft wheat bread which becomes chewy in just a few hours.

Ingredients:

1 loaf of stale bread, 6 ripe tomatoes, 1 red onion (or spring onion), 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, chopped basil (and/or 1 teaspoon of oregano), 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. I added some cucumbers and sweet peppers because they are in season.

Instructions:

We begin to slice the bread and wet it in the water. Not too much, otherwise, it becomes a mush. It can be done in a solution of water and vinegar, or vinegar can be added later. It depends on what you want to do.

If you want to rub a little tomato on the bread to flavour it, you can do.

Once this is done, season the bread with olive oil, and then you are free to add the other ingredients.

The version with the bread cut into cubes or chopped is the Tuscan version and is not that different. However, the Tuscan version is a Panzanella salad, while the Roman version is more similar to bruschetta.

Panzanella is a "poor dish", where you recover the ingredients so as not to throw them away, but it is tasty, fresh and healthy.

Buon appetito!