Holiday Feast: Fresh Tuscan Panzanella Salad
We are so excited to share our Panzanella recipe with you, which is a traditional Tuscan chopped salad made using stale bread, onions and tomatoes. Sometimes you'll find panzanella with cucumber, roasted capsicum, anchovies and basil! The best part of a panzanella is when the stale bread is soaks up in the juices of the salad, olive oil and vinegar, and explodes with those Mediterranean flavours we all crave when we visit the likes of Italy, Spain and Greece during their summer months. This salad is on high rotation in our house because it's perfect for those long summer days when you want to rustle up something that's quick, fresh and delicious. You'll almost always find all of the ingredients in your pantry already and it's such a hit when you're entertaining. It's therefore no surprise we chose to make this for our annual Christmas Feast with friends. It also has little prep time so when you're busy making several dishes, this one always ends up on top as the easiest to rustle up in those last few minutes.
Ingredients
1 loaf of sourdough bread, 2 to 3 days old (stale)
600g ripe cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp baby capers
1 red onion, peeled and sliced finely
300g charred red peppers, drained and roughly chopped (we like these)
1 jar of anchovy fillets in oil, drained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
Sea salt and cracked pepper, for seasoning
Bunch of fresh basil leaves
Method
Break up the sourdough loaf in your hands roughly 3cm pieces and place in your serving dish.
Add the tomatoes, capers, onion, peppers and anchovies. Season with sea salt and cracked pepper. Toss everything together using your hands.
Pour olive oil and vinegar on top, and toss everything together using your hands.
Taste and add a little more salt, pepper, vinegar or oil, if needed.
Tear in the basil leaves, garnish on top and serve.
