What's a real panzanella?

Whenever someone asks me what my favorite cuisine might be, I invariably answer, “Italian!” I do love Italian food, and the usual suspects – lasagna, tetrazzini, cannelloni -- are on our traditional favorites list. In fact, a pan of shells stuffed with ricotta and spinach with a slow-simmered homemade meat and mushroom sauce is baking in the oven right now.

But I don’t very often veer off my self-induced safe path when cooking at home. So every once in a while, I decide I’ll try something new Italian! My target was panzanella. All I really knew about panzanella before I started reading that it’s basically a salad made with stale bread and fresh tomatoes.

I opened up a little can of worms! To be truly authentic, I learned, the bread in panzanella, which is considered a Tuscan dish, is soaked in water for a few minutes, then shredded. Other marks of authenticity are anchovies, capers, and basil. Some recipes included cheese, either mozzzarella or Parmesan.  But most of the recipes I consulted for my base – I knew I’d want to change something – called for toasting bread cubes. What a quandary! Do I try and stay authentic or do I follow the pack?

How a recipe, or rather good cooking, evolves is all about change. It’s not changing something or adding a personal imprint just for the sake of individuality; it’s accommodating individual tastes and making good use of what’s available.

One thing I’ve always admired about Italian cooking is the lack of waste – everything is put to use or reprised in a new role.

So this “panzanella” is not authentic; it’s an amalgamation of all that I read. It is important not to soak the bread so it either has to be really stale or toasted before you toss the salad with the dressing.

I added kohlrabi, even though that’s certainly not traditional. (It was going to go to waste if I didn’t use it soon.)  And I added a cucumber, too, because a neighbor had just given me one. The kohlrabi gave an nice extra crunch to the salad. I sneakily put it in. My husband had to ask, “What’s the crunchy stuff? It’s not celery.” So I had to fess up.

(I just realized that this will be the fourth salad in a row that I’ve posted. Hey! It’s summer. Something else next time, I promise.)

Tomato-Bread Salad
adapted from Better Homes & Garden, June 2010

4 medium roma tomatoes, cut in 1-inch cubes
½ medium red onion, cut in thin wedges
1 medium yellow sweet pepper, cut in 1-inch pieces
1 medium kohlrabi, peeled and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1 small cucumber, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 T Dijon mustard

½ t Italian seasoning blend

½ t salt

¼ t pepper

8 oz. ciabatta

1 cup small fresh basil leaves

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In shallow baking pan, toss bread cubes with 1 T olive oil to coat. Bake about 10 minutes or until toasted, stirring once. Remove and cool on pan. Just before serving, add bread cubes and basil to tomato mixture; toss to coat.

In large serving bowl, combine tomatoes, red onion, yellow sweet pepper, kohlrabi and cucumber. To make dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in a food processor). Add to tomato mixture and refrigerate overnight – up to 24 hours. Makes 6 to 8 servings.