Lost and Found

 

As I've mentioned before, we started this blog to keep track of all of the wonderful recipes we have come across. We try so many different recipes that it's easy for recipes--even some of the best--to get lost in the shuffle. Some have even been lost forever...sniff, sniff. We thought this first panzanella recipe had been lost forever, but luckily for us, we found it again! Yay! The second panzanella salad was another delicious one that we found when we were trying to hunt down the first one after having lost it.

 

Panzanella Salad

Ingredients:

6 cups day old Italian bread, torn or cut into bite-size pieces
1/3 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
4 medium ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges
3/4 cup sliced red onion
10 basil leaves, shredded
1/2 cup pitted and halved green olives
1 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into bite-size pieces

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, toss bread with 1/3 cup olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic. Lay bread on a baking sheet and toast in the preheated oven until lightly toasted, about 5 to 10 minutes; allow to cool slightly.

While the bread is in the oven, whisk together 1/4 cup of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Gently toss together the bread, tomatoes, onion, basil, olives, and mozzarella cheese. Toss with the vinaigrette and let stand for 20 minutes before serving.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by veggiemom. You can find it here.

Notes: We used sliced cherry and grape tomatoes rather than cutting a tomato in wedges. We also added green as well as Kalamata olives. Another good addition (which we didn't try this time, but might in the future) would be to add capers. Be careful not to toast the bread too much. You don't want the bread to be as hard as a rock. You just want it to be toasted enough so that it can absorb the juices of this salad without becoming mush.

 

Chef John's Panzanella

Ingredients:

2 cups 1/2-inch stale bread cubes, or more to taste
1/4 cup olive oil, or to taste
1/4 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or to taste
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, or more to taste
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, or more to taste
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, or to taste
1 pinch white sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
4 leaves fresh basil, thinly sliced, or more to taste

Directions:

Pour bread into a large skillet and drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil, working in batches, if necessary. Cook and stir bread over medium heat, adding more oil as needed, until bread cubes are golden and crispy on the outside, 7 to 12 minutes.

Sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano over the top of the bread cubes, cook and stir until cheese is melted onto bread, and bread is crispy on the outside, but still chewy on the inside, 3 to 4 minutes more. Cool completely.

Combine tomatoes, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, sugar, salt, and black pepper together in a bowl until well-mixed. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature until flavors combine, about 20 minutes.

Toss basil into tomato mixture; add bread cubes and stir. Let salat sit at room temperature 3 to 4 minutes. If liquid is completely absorbed, add more vinegar and extra virgin olive oil to taste. Season with salt and black pepper.

Source: Allrecipes.com, submitted by Chef John. You can find it here.

Notes: This was really good. Just a great, classic recipe.