Today I tried a panzanella salad for the first time, and was looking for a good recipe for it. I have searched online and saw some good/interesting ones, but I was hoping that someone had one that was a family favorite that he or she would be willing to share. Thanks!
I think the real secret to good panzanella is good semolina bread. There's tomato, cucumber, and onion, and it seems to me that all else is variable. I like fresh mozzarella and bitter greens in mine, but don't think this is traditional. I would trust these recipes, which you've probably found already, to be closer to authentic:
Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa has one at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/i...ipe/index.html
and there's another without the peppers but with hardboiled eggs and tuna at: http://italianfood.about.com/od/primivari/r/blr0106.htm
PS: there's one here on talkfood at: http://www.talkfood.com/forum/showth...d-Tomato-Salad
Thank you!! I had found Ina's, but not the others.... And I believe you are right: if you have good quality bread and fresh ingredients, you can't go wrong.
I make this almost every day during the summer months. The only reason I make this at this time is that I use my heirloom tomatoes from the garden. The secret to great Panzanella is the most flavorful tomatoes you can get. I use day old baggette bread diced and slightly toasted with a good quality extra virgin olive oil with roasted garlic cloves. I cut up the tomatoes in a bowl add a small sliced shallot, extra virgin olive oil, a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar. Let it all masserate while the bread is toasting. When the bread is done add to the tomatoes, toss and let it sit for 5 minutes or so before serving. Just before serving add some torn fresh basil leaves. This is my family favorite. I hope you will enjoy this receipe of mine.
My mouth is watering just reading your recipe -- thank you for sharing it with me!!! (And I agree 100% about the tomatoes; the ones in our store this week look like plastic and taste like styrofoam.) I will definitely be making this as soon as the first tomatoes come in next year.
In the off season we buy the tomatoes on vine. They seem to have a slight advantage over the " Styrofoam" version even though they aren't as big.
We sometimes have tomatoes on the vine at our local markets in the off season, but the quality is unreliable -- sometimes they are okay and sometimes they just have no flavor. The same goes for the Roma tomatoes - they look good but the taste and texture are way off. We usually just use grape tomatoes during the off-season to get us by. We can usually find those all year long.
I agree. There's no such thing as fresh tomatoes once the local season has ended.....
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