I first shared this recipe 10 years ago (wow how time flies!), and it's received so much love ever since. Today, I've given the photos an update to show off just how delicious it is, for a reintroduction to you just in time for your Memorial Day eats!
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"This salad was wonderful! Very fresh tasting and flavorful." -Alma, FoodieCrush reader
The first time I heard the word "panzanella," I thought it was a dessert.
I mean, doesn't it sound like something fabulously decadent you could only find in a European bakery with those cute little tables sitting outside on the sidewalk? Made by a chef in a white toque (fyi, that's what they call those Chef Boyardee hats) with mounds of sugar, the sweetest butter and the flakiest crust, intended to be nibbled slowly through the afternoon side by side to a steaming cup of the most perfectly poured espresso?
Yeah, I was so wrong.
Panzanella is a traditional Tuscan salad made with the summer's juiciest tomatoes, and get this: day-old, definitely-not-soft, hearty bread. Since our family is a family of bread dippers, the addition of bread in this salad makes it really popular — no additional dipping required.
To switch things up from the traditional Tuscan way this recipe is prepared, I added a few Mediterranean-inspired flavors to our usual bread salad mix.
Yeah, and this time, I am so right.
Enjoy!
Heidi
PS. If panzanella is a summer staple at your house too, you're going to love this BLT version made with peppery arugula and salty pancetta. And I also have a peach and burrata panzanella that I make throughout peach season.
