Panzanella

I made my first Panzanella of the season today; I won't make it any earlier in the year because you can't get good tomatoes. Panzanella, a.k.a. Tuscan Bread Salad, is a nice summer dish (it hit 88 degrees today) consisting of tomatoes, basil, and chunks of bread tossed with red wine vinegar and olive oil. I made a few additions today and I think they worked well: caramelized onions and roasted red and yellow peppers. The onions and peppers brought good balance to the dish -- you have the sweet of the onions playing against the sour vinegar, and both add a different texture (the tomatoes and basil are pretty crisp, where as the bread is crunchy/chewy, depending on how much let it get stale). Then you've also got the onions and peppers playing "cooked" to the "fresh" of the other ingredients, and it all comes together nicely.

You'll see recipes for panzanella calling for celery, cucumber, anchovies, capers... if those float your boat, go for it. Honestly, if you don't want to go to the trouble of caramelizing the onions or roasting the peppers, either use 'em raw or just omit them entirely. There's nothing wrong with simply tossing cubed bread with basil, tomatoes, red wine vinegar and olive oil, plus salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Yum. Use good ingredients (it's all about the tomatoes!) and you'll make a good panzanella. Of course, that holds true for more than just panzanella.

G'night.