Panzanella is a salad made with toasted bread and vegetables tossed in vinegar & oil based dressing. This recipe included yellow sweet bell pepper, cucumber, onion, salt, garlic, black pepper, capers, anchovies and tomatoes. I made this recipe last summer when tomatoes were at their peak. In addition to the bright red slicing tomato, I was able to find two heirloom tomatoes. The first was a red one the color of fresh meat. The second was the color of champagne. Once the skin was removed both were translucent like stained glass.
The best way to describe this salad is balance. It has the right mix of salty, sweet and pungent. The texture was a balance of soft & chewy, and crisp & crunchy. It tastes like the Summer’s essence. The only thing that would have made this better is a warm breeze from across the salty sea.
Comments (3)
One of my top 10 favorite salads! I could eat it while enjoying a warm summer breeze or on a frosty New England afternoon!! Great photo :)
Posted by Mindy | March 21, 2011 2:05 PM
Posted on March 21, 2011 14:05
Irene, my mouth is watering reading this. It looks wonderful!
Posted by Susie L | March 22, 2011 8:00 PM
Posted on March 22, 2011 20:00
Panzanella has become familiar to fans of good Italian food. But I remember that when I first published it, there weren't too many fans of real Italian food and had Jeopardy existed then, panzanella would have been a sure bet to stump any contestant.
Posted by Marcella Hazan | March 25, 2011 10:07 PM
Posted on March 25, 2011 22:07