You may be staring at the screen in disbelief right now. Italian bread salad? With a crazy name you’ve never heard of? That’s O.K. – I didn’t know what panzanella was until a few summers ago either! I heard of it on a cooking blog and then ordered it at a restaurant when we were visiting DC. When we came back home, I discovered Smitten Kitchen’s version, thought it sounded like a fab idea to try at home, and lo and behold…it was better than the restaurant version. Homemade croutons with fresh summer vegetables and a basil vinaigrette? Count me IN.
Jeremy had his doubts when he first spied this salad. No meat?? And he was definitely wary of the cucumbers. But then he took a bite, then another….and freely admitted that he was wrong-oh-SO-wrong, and has happily been requesting panzanella for many summer meals ever since. Seriously – it’s one of my most frequently made recipes. We both are HUGE fans – I’ve found that if you make it once, you can’t stop thinking about it until you make it again the next day. 😉 It’s kind of addictive. As in, we made it yesterday for lunch after church services – and looking at these pictures makes me want to rush back into the kitchen immediately. But the leftovers are earmarked for supper tonight. Arghhh!!!! And here I am, wishing my afternoon away, just so suppertime will get here sooner. 😉
So, I say this with all the kindness in my heart…get thee to a farmer’s market! You deserve this salad! I mean, it’s salad, so it’s good for you. But it has BREAD in it. So it’s a cheat meal, but not totally a cheat meal, because it has so many veggies and olive oil and basil. Whatever it is, it’s a total win-win. =)
Let’s talk about this process. Because it’s easy – there’s not a lot of cooking involved…mostly chopping. And when vegetables are as gorgeous as this-right-here, it becomes a less of a chore and more of a thankful prayer for the colorful bounty on your cutting board.
Maybe I’m just a big dork, but I was overjoyed with the idea that God created such amazing food – that starts out as seeds and grows into something YOU CAN EAT. That you can be nourished by. The whole process is just super cool to me! And I’m fairly certain that He takes great pleasure in my enthusiastic enjoyment of His creation. =)
The first thing I get started with is slicing the bread into cubes. You can use French bread, of course, but we wholeheartedly recommend Italian bread. We actually get ours from the Wal-mart bakery. And I can’t even explain whyyyy it’s better…it just somehow is! (And this from a girl who has always liked French bread quite a lot) Trust me. =)
I always use both olive oil and butter in the skillet, along with a sprinkling of salt. The salt is important, so don’t leave it out…unless you have high blood pressure issues. 😉
Wait until the butter is melted (I have the temp at medium) and then pile up your bread cubes in the skillet. I use about half the loaf for two of us. What? It’s kind-of a small loaf. And while they’re cooking, there are always a few snatched out of the pan and popped in our mouths in the name of taste-testing. You know how it is!
So after you’ve piled them in the pan, drizzle some olive oil over the top and give another sprinkle of salt. Toss them gently with a spatula and try to get them settled into a single layer. You’re going to keep checking on this bread situation while you’re chopping.
Chop up your tomatoes (we love multi-colored cherry tomatoes, but regular summer tomatoes work just fine, too!) and cucumber and bell peppers. I always chop up enough for two meals at once.
If someone else can help you with this process, it goes a lot faster! Thank you, husband, for being willing to chop! I made sure to take these photos where you can see the wedding ring, because, ladies, this one’s taken! 😉
Go back and check on the bread. You’ll see some of them are getting crisp and brown on the bottom. I never have much luck using only a spatula to turn them, so I turn them really quickly by hand. Be careful not to burn yourself! They really need to be pretty crisp on each side – if not, the dressing will make them too soggy before you’re finished eating the salad.
To make the dressing, I use an empty (recycled) jar – we add all the ingredients and shake it up really well and voila! Done.
By the way, if you often make your own dressings and find that you’re having a problem with the oil separating too quickly, add some mustard. It helps keep it emulsified!
Let’s talk about basil for a minute. We grow ours, which I highly recommend, but if you don’t have access to fresh basil, my next choice would be freeze dried basil (specifically from LiteHouse Foods, which I found at our local Piggly Wiggly. Amazon also carries it: Litehouse Freeze Dried Basil (8 grams) 1 Bottle
If you have fresh basil, here’s the easiest way to cut it. Stack the leaves together, roll them up, and cut small slices. I usually go back and cut it crossways, too, so that the basil strands aren’t too long.
Now it’s time to put it all together! Put the bread cubes in your bowls. Top them with the chopped veggies. (If you’ve cut too many sprigs of basil and just used the bigger leaves on the bottom on the stem, you can stick the rest in a jar of water for later.
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And don’t forget the dressing! =)
I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do!!
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Pin it to make this summer!
- 1 Tbsp. good olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. salted butter
- sprinkling of salt
- 1 loaf of Italian bread, cubed (we do about half a loaf per meal for two people)
- 1.5 c. multicolored cherry tomatoes (or 1-2 regular tomatoes)
- 1 cucumber, seeded and chopped
- 2 bell peppers (we prefer yellow and red or green)
- 2/3 c. good olive oil
- 6 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard or brown spicy mustard
- 1-2 tsp. finely minced garlic
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. pepper
- 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
- Slice up the bread into cubes. Heat up the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add a sprinkle of salt. Once the butter is melted, add the bread cubes. Top with more olive oil and another sprinkle of salt. Toss the bread cubes gently, every so often, to get each side crispy. Remove from heat.
- Seed the cucumber and cube it. Quarter the cherry tomatoes. Slice/cube the bell peppers. Mix together.
- Add all dressing ingredients to a jar, cover tightly with lid, and shake well until mustard is dissolved. Layer the croutons and chopped veggies in individual serving bowls. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Top with dressing and toss gently. Eat immediately.
- We like to eat this two days in a row. I make sure to have enough vegetables cut up (feel free to add even more if you want!) for leftovers. And there's plenty of leftover dressing. I do always cut up/saute' the bread cubes right before we eat the salad each time, though. Enjoy!!
This post is part of Meal Plan Monday over at Julia’s Simply Southern.
Go check out all the other tasty-looking recipes!
