A year ago this time, I was not cooking. We were deep into the creative process of "The Great St. Louis Eats Book," eating out about eight times a week, writing, editing and thinking. We’ve found that finishing books in late summer works best for a number of reasons, but the tradeoff is that much of the year’s best locally-grown food remains out of our kitchen. I sigh and moan about it every time we go near a farmer’s market in the years when we’re doing a book.
But this year, things are back to normal, and yesterday I made what’s become our traditional first-tomatoes-of-the-season dish. Panzanella is an old Tuscan treat that utilizes stale bread. Various recipes are around, utilizing things like cucumbers and celery. In my experience, they’re seldom found in the dish in its homeland, and most of the American versions I’ve tried use the bread as a crouton, to provide crunch. Nope. The bread is supposed to soak up the tomato juices and the dressing, the way one might take a bit of crust to sop up the last moisture from a plate of tomatoes and onions set out on a summer supper table. (That was always my favorite bit.)
The bread must be substantial, not the fluffy, mass-produced stuff that makes nice square slices. The chewier the bread when fresh, the better it’ll be in this salad, when stale. And it can’t be too stale for this recipe. Just soak it until it softens. The gluten that makes it chewy will keep it from falling apart.
This recipe is from Biba Caggiano’s "Trattoria Cooking," now out of print. Caggiano, who has or had a restaurant in Sacramento, reported she tasted this version of panzanella at a café just outside of Montecatini, the lovely spa town in the hills north of Florence. I’ve changed it slightly—Caggiano removes the crusts from her bread and uses a 7-ounce can of oil-packed tuna.
8 oz serious bread, stale
3 ripe tomatoes, large to medium size, cored and roughly diced
1 medium red onion or half a large one, minced
12 large fresh basil leaves, shredded
10-12 black olives, pitted and quartered
3 Tbs. red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/3 c. olive oil
salt and fresh-ground pepper
12 oz. can water-packed tuna, drained
Break or cut the bread into pieces and soak in a bowl of cold water 2-4 minutes. Drain and squeeze out as much water as possible. Tear the bread into smaller pieces—your hands are the best tool for this; pieces should mostly be a little less than an inch across. Put them in a large bowl with the tomatoes, onion, basil and olives. Stir together the vinegar, garlic and olive oil. Salt and pepper the salad, begin to toss it, and add the olive oil mixture. Continue to toss. Add the tuna, toss some more. Taste the salad and add more salt and/or pepper if desired.
Serves 4-6 allegedly, but not at our house.
Definitely not for those like my oldest stepdaughter, who loathes wet bread. But for all of us who’ve wiped up the last bit of salad juices, it’s bliss.
-Ann
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