LA BELLA PANZANELLA...the beautiful bread salad!!  Bread Salad?   A little austere, prison food perhaps?
A punishement?  None of the above. This food borne from necessity speaks volumes about how to
stretch food to feed a hungry family.   From the Tuscany region of Italy Panzanella is a soaked stale
bread, onions, tomatoes, greens, other varying ingredients dressed with red wine vinegar and good
extra virgin Olive oil.  Like so many other Italian dishes this too has as many variations as there as names ending in vowels in the Italian White Pages. 

Let me bring you to the heart of Tuscany, the city of Florence (Firenze) where bread, wine, cheese,
vegetables, meat, cured or fresh, all reign supreme.  Spinach is a very popular vegetable choice
here, hence the term alla Fiorentina or Florentine meaning with cooked spinach in the preparation.
Traditionally a Panzanella salad contains soaked cubes of stale bread (must be stale, must be
stale) dressed with lots of sliced onion, maybe garlic, a pinch of herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil
and vinegar...throw into the mix tomatoes, maybe cucumbers, and maybe spinach. 
   Picture yourself at sunset on a warm
Summer's evening people watching eating a bowl of this as the Duomo and bridges turn a glowing
gold to say goodbye to the day and hello to the night.  You really need something tasty now, right??
I like using those round brick oven loaves known as Pane Campagna, or Country Bread.  Reserve
1/2 of one of these loaves and hack into cubes.  Let them stand for 1-2 days..The chewy texture of
the dressed bread is what makes this a differently delicious salad.  You should have about 1 1/2
cups of the bread which you will soak in water.  Country Bread has some strength in it and you
can actually squeeze all the water out of it.  Reserve on the side.


Whisk together 1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/8 tsp. black pepper, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 3 tbs. of Red Wine
Vinegar.  Then pour over the squeeze bread cubes.  Let this sit for 10 minutes. Gently toss.  Now add
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced, 1/8 cup small diced soft (Tuscan) Pecorino, or 1/2 that amount of small
diced Parmigiano-Reggiano, 2 cups of Baby Spinach leaves (washed and trimmed), and 1/2 pt of grape
or cherry tomatoes.  Mix it all together. Taste for seasoning..Let this sit for 15 minutes before serving.  Add a good drizzle of olive oil, blend and serve.  Don't over salt, yet, don't under salt either..both are not good for
any dish.  Serve at room temperature.  Feeds 4-6.



This salad only gets better as you let it sit and the vegetables, bread and aromatics blend.  And as the
growing season gets longer, try to get local vegetables for this.  Resist that temptation to use Balsamic
for this...red wine vinegar is perfect.  If you like a little more flavor add a pinch of oregano.  I'll leave that up
to you....