Panzanella, the perfect dish for your left over bread

Here in Holland we are well known internationally for our bread culture. I think a lot of international people are puzzled from the idea of that we eat bread sometimes as breakfast and as lunch here.

But what do you always do with the end of a bread. I often drown them with peanut butter and just eat them sometimes even killing my teeth from that, some feed them to the dogs or to the birds.

The best thing to do with the ends (we call them butts) of the bread? Make a panzanella salad, an Italian salad based on bread.


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The whole idea behind this dish is that it is food for the poor, because you need all left overs for it as the Italians would say. Well, we don't really have these left over ingredients as a basic here, so it is a little bit more work, but who cares.

I based this whole idea for food on two recipes, google is your best friend for these kinds of things.

This article from BBC food has the basis for the recipe, and I used some ideas from this post on how to make a better vinaigrette.





Start at the beginning!

So what you need is just some really old bread or if you dont have that use a ciabatta for it. Tear the bread into pieces and stick it in the over with a drizzle of olive oil on it for about 15 minutes on 180 degrees celcius.

Then take about 6-8 large and very ripe tomatoes and dice them. Leave them in a strainer with some salt over it. The salt with induce the process of of osmosis which will let the fluids of the tomatoes out.

That why you use a strainer. Collect the tomato fluid underneith because you will need a bit of them for the vinagrette.









Other stuff you can use!



You need a bit of flavor in your dish as well. So what I used is a bit of cut ansjovis which gives a rich and salty flavor to your dish. Some cut olives straight from a can (leftovers again, it wasn't much but it is always an enhancement), and a sjalot onion. A normal onion would also surely do the trick.

Afterwards basil is your best friend in really getting the Italian flavor in there so some fresh basil from a plant is also really something you need. How much to use? I almost took the whole plant, but this is different for everyone.









Assembling time!



First you want to make your vinaigrette which is quite easy. Take some good olive oil and some red wine vinegar. Add a pinch of salt and some sugar and take some of the tomato fluids for mixing. Add some Dijon mustard as the secret ingredient for really getting something nice.

For assembling your dish you take the bread pieces from the over and stick them in a big bowl. Add the diced tomatoes, the onions, the olive and the ansjovis. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the whole and mix it good. Add some chopped basil leaves or just tear them as well. Give it some pepper and salt and stir it up.

Then the most important thing: Leave it for half an hour as a minimum. This will allow the bread to absorb the flavor and that is just what you want.

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When building your plate these badboys are your friend which I brought from Italy. That really is an investment which is perfect for the rest of the year because these oils and acids are so damn good, that you really don't need a lot of them.

I also took some buffalo mozzarella and drizzled some balsamic sauce (the thicker one, not the acid one) over it also for the visuals but mostly for the sweet taste of it.

Et voila! A bread salad which is no effort to make and even will taste better when leaving the left overs for the next day. Bon appetit!

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