Panzanella

Panzanella is a bright and flavorful summertime salad with origins in Italy’s cucina povera, a style of cooking characterized by tasty dishes made by the poor and working classes from humble ingredients. In the cucina povera, home-grown food is put to good use and no leftover is wasted. True to that value, panzanella was created as a way to use up day-old, stale bread. There are differing theories about the origin of the name panzanella. A popular one is that it is a combination of pane, which means “bread,” and zanella, which is dialect for the dish or bowl in which it is served.

Originally a Tuscan dish, panzanella eventually spread to the Umbria, Marche and Lazio regions of central Italy, and as often happens variations emerged. The original Tuscan recipe called for bread, red onion, basil, olive oil, wine vinegar and salt. Tomatoes were soon added to the recipe, and over time panzanella became known as a bread and tomato dish. Today cucumbers are often included with the tomatoes, while not all recipes call for onions. Finally, a notable difference exists in panzanella as a salad with the bread broken into pieces, most common in Tuscany, in contrast to panzanella as a whole piece of soaked bread with the tomatoes on top, sometimes referred to as la panzanella romana.

Our version of panzanella is the classic Tuscan one, with stale bread soaked in water, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, basil, white wine vinegar, and olive oil. We used onion more sparingly than many recipes because we didn’t want it to overpower the other ingredients. If you are a red onion fan, feel free to add more.

Continue to Content

Panzanella

Yield: 4-6 servings

Panzanella is a bright and flavorful summertime salad with origins in Italy's cucina povera, a style of cooking characterized by tasty dishes made by the poor and working classes from humble ingredients.

Print

Ingredients

• 350-400 grams stale Italian bread
• 350-400 grams tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 1/4 of a medium red onion
• White wine vinegar
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt

Instructions

1. Slice the bread and place it in a shallow container or baking pan. Cover it in about 250 ml or 1 cup of water. Press the bread down to help it absorb the water and let it sit for about 45 minutes.
2. Chop the tomatoes and add them to a bowl.
3. Peel and chop the cucumber. Add it to the tomatoes.
4. Use a vegetable slicer to thinly slice the red onion. Add it to the tomatoes and cucumber.
5. When the bread is soft and has absorbed all of the water, use your fingers to break it into crumbles and add it to the vegetable mixture.
6. Dress the salad with about 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, 2-3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar, and salt to taste. Stir well.
7. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

Notes

This salad is very forgiving; add more or less of any ingredient according to your taste or the items you have on hand.