Her majesty the Panzanella
My last Saturday was devoted to enjoying those little pleasures that can only take place at home. I have spent the last few weekends away (although once I desperately tried to stay by forgetting the ID card and loosing the flight), and I was literally craving for activities like breakfast at the place around the corner or a morning visit to the market to buy fresh stuff. I feel so guilty towards the planet when I am forced to buy vegetables wrapped in plastic from the supermarket (without mentioning that I spend far more)
I have now my vegetable booth, my mussels booth, my soup booth, and from now on also my wild sea bass booth (the quality will be tested tonight). And right from my vegetable boot I got the idea of doing the Panzanella (capital letter, because it is a queen of taste ;) ). Actually, I bought the ingredients for doing a gazpacho, but the gazpacho is best served cold and I was too hungry to wait, so in the search for valid alternatives I thought about this salad that I used to eat in the italian restaurant in Frankfurt that was just below our place. We ate there for an entire week after packing the kitchen stuff to be moved to Alicante, and I had 7 out of 7 times her majesty the Panzanella, so you can understand that I have an insane passion for this dish. I mean, just look at the colors <3
Anyway, body is wise: when I was a teenager my favourite dishes were pan-fried breaded veal and french fries, but now that they would go straight to my ass I switched to Panzanella and hummus ;)
PANZANELLA
2 red tomatoes
1 celery stick
half onion
old bread
ground pepper
white vinegar
oil EVO
Cut the onion in thin slices and place in cold water; let it rest few minutes, then dry well. Cut the bread in cubes and keep under running water for a minute, than let it rest with a little remaining water until half soft, half hard. Cut the celery and the tomatoes in cubes, add the onion, the bread cubes, pur vinegar generously and adjust the salt. Just before serving, add oil EVO and ground pepper. Enjoy!
PS
I have also added half cucumber that I had spare after making the gazpacho! Not bad but less is more, so I prefer the original recipe.
