Panzanella

There is often a big discussion among Italians regarding the ingredients of this traditional dish. Traditional panzanella found in Florence never includes cucumbers, but in Sienna (just a short distance away), cucumbers are always part of the dish. I’ve found that most Italians don’t stress too much about the ingredients. They feel free to include their own bits that enhance the salad. There is in fact, a version of panzanella in Garfagnana called panzanella del prete, that includes many additional ingredients like radicchio, fennel, carrots, diced ham, anchovies in oil, crumbled tuna, boiled eggs, capers and even diced cheese. Strips of red or yellow peppers are also often included to add a certain decorative color. There’s even a fashionable and contemporary panzanella that is made with boiled pearl barley instead of crumbled bread.

I believe panzanella defines the Italian spirit in cooking, so I prefer to keep my version light. I only use a few ingredients and they must be the best quality I can find!

I should also mention the bread of Tuscany, where this dish originates. Tuscan bread is often made without any salt – an unusual taste sensation for most. But in this case, it works perfectly. The lack of salt means the bread will stale after a single day, so there are many Tuscan dishes that include stale bread – salads, soups and fillings of some sort. In the case of panzanella, the stale bread mixed into the salad soaks up the dressing and flavors and becomes extraordinarily tasty. I don’t often have this kind of bread on hand, so I use what I do have…and that is normally leftover sourdough bread.

Yield: makes about 6 servings