Monday, April 6, 2009

Panzanella

A very light Italian salad. Okay, okay. I admit this is not the actual original recipe. I have played around with it in terms of dressing. I personally like crispy ingredients staying crispy, and I have substituted the original light, lemony dressing with a heavier but smoother mixed oil dressing.

It makes for a great summer salad, light on the stomach, and fun on the tastebuds.

Ingredients:
1) 1 cup bread slices (cut into small pieces and dried till crisp in a microwave, or in the sun - NO toast, PLEASE!!!)
2) 1/4 of a cucumber, diced into small cubes
3) One large tomato, diced
4) 1/4 green bell pepper (optional yellow, but avoid red, it could get too "sweet" for the salad)
5)a bit of Iceberg lettuce or salad greens
6) 2 teaspoons chopped parsley
7) 1/2 a cored green apple (optional)
8) 1/2 cup fresh pineapple - diced (optional)
9) 1/4 cup walnuts - optional

Dressing Ingredients:
1)1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2) 1 tablespoon sesame oil
3) 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
4) 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger (I prefer Thai ginger here)
5) 1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
6) sea salt
7) A pinch white pepper (optional)
8) 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (optional) (But I personally LOVE this option... especially if you are using herbed bread, balsamic gives a very nice edge)

Method:
1)In a large bowl, combine all the salad ingredients (or whatever you are using)
2) In a separate bowl, mix up all the dressing ingredients
3) Pour over salad and toss.

Footnote:
1) The original recipe calls for only olive oil, lemon juice, and eliminates the ginger. The authentic Italian recipe uses stale foccacia, and the sour-ish taste of the foccacia clashes with the ginger. I personally prefer to get my zest with the lemon rind, so that the lemon juice does not soak into the bread and make the pieces soggy.
2) An all-fruit panzanalla tastes divine. Watch the space. :)

1 comment:

Pratik Shah said...

Personally, i detest salads... so this one is not for me... but i like the different oils and the dressing