Panzanella - Tuscan Bread salad

Panzanella is the Tuscan name of this cold salad that has a very humble origin but such a great taste!

I ate it the first time in Lucca, and it was so delicious that I asked the recipe to the lady of the deli. She said that this recipe is rather common in the central regions of Italy and that it can also  be enriched with canned tuna or boiled eggs.
For this very first time I followed the original recipe and let you guess all the variations you want. italian food recipe

The ingredients are very easy to find, they come directly from the orchard and from the pantry. If you use stale traditional Tuscan bread (or any unsalted rustic bread) the result will be great!
If onions are too strong for you, cut them first and wash the little pieces under the running water and then dry them with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel.
As in many traditional Italian recipes, the quantities are not fixed, follow your taste and add a little more of this or that as you like!

 

Ingredients for 4

12 slices (about 400 grs/1 lb) stale rustic bread

3 ripe tomatoes cut into very small pieces

1 red onion cut into very small pieces

2 small cucumbers cut into very small pieces

15 small basil leaves broken into pieces

3 tablespoon Vinegar

Glass of water

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

How to:

1) Cut the bread into thick slices and put it into a bowl.

2) Add a table spoon of wine vinegar to a glass of water and pour them on the bread. The bread must be wet but not too soaked.

3) Squeeze the bread to drain it well and break it with your hands. Put it in a large bowl.

 4) Cut the vegetables into small pieces, and discard most of the tomato seeds.

5) Put all the vegetables in the bowl with the bread, mix well with your hands, add salt, pepper and oil and mix again. Taste it and some more oil or salt if needed.

6) Refrigerate for an hour or so and take out of fridge about 15 minutes before serving.

Pinzimonio

A refreshing and healthy appetizer to cool off the Summer heat! Cheap, light, colourful, easy to prepare and suitable for everybody!

Enjoy this informal way of starting a meal, it will be great while you wait for your barbecue!

You can put all the vegetable in a large bowl and prepare small bowls with a little dressing for each guest to dip the vegetables in, but also you can make single portion using a large glass and putting the salt/oil/pepper on the bottom.

Ingredients for 4 (adjust quantities by your taste)

1 cucumber

1 fennel

8 radishes (if you like them)

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 red/yellow pepper

2 endives

2 Long tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

Salt and pepper

Extra Virgin olive oil

How to: 

1) Wash, trim and cut the vegetables according to their type: the carrots, celery, cucumbers, long tomatoes and peppers should be cut into sticks. Cut the fennel and endive apart into sections.

Remove the roots and leaves from the radishes, making sure to leave a little bit to the stems, which will be useful for picking them up with your fingers.

2) Prepare the dressing: pour in each small bowl a tea spoon of salt, 2 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper.
(If you do not have small bowls use your imaginations, these are Ikea candle holders...)

3) Serve it to your guest who will dip the vegetables in the condiment.

Keep more salt/extra virgin olive oils and pepper ready for refill...

Eggplant Caponata with chicken breast

Chicken is the "side dish" for this fantastic Sicilian recipe, which a dear friend from Trapani gave me long time ago and that became immediately our Summer favourite.

As it is a traditional recipe every family has its own version and may include additional ingredients. Traditional Southern Italian food was made with simple ingredients and quantities depended on what was available and adjusted to taste. I will respect this origin and will give you the proportions

I know, the vegetable are fried, and it takes a long time to prepare, but the taste is so fantastic that you have to try it, with a nice slice of rustic bread just warmed up under the grill. Superb!

You can serve it cold, and the day after preparation is even better. (refrigerate and take out of fridge 1 hr. before serving).

Can you hear the singing of the cicadas?…
Prepare your picnic basket!

Ingredients for 4 (served as vegetable side) –make more if you want to eat it as a main vegetable dish

4 slices chicken breast

6-8 grains of pepper (6 to 8)
Parsley
1 shallot
1 clove

2 round eggplants (or 4 long) (black, violet or white) Always prefer fresh vegetables with little seeds

12-15 tomatoes
Half a cup black olives (no pips) Try to find good quality (deli)
Half a cup green olives (no pips)
2 table spoons of capers
2 table spoons almonds, roughly cut in into pieces and slightly browned
1 table spoon balsamic vinegar (or a little bit more to taste)
Vegetable frying oil
Salt

 How to:

1)      Wash the eggplants and cut the stems off

    
     2)      Cut into thick, long  pieces and put them in a colander and salt well.

    3)      Put a weight on them so they lose their bitter water and set aside for at least 1 hr.

    4)      In the meanwhile peel the tomatoes by making a cross cut on the surface skin on the  top and throwing them in hot water for 1 minute. Put them in  a colander, pass them under the cold water and the skin will wrinkle. Tomatoes are now ready to be peeled

5)      Cut them into pieces, discarding most of the seeds, put in colander with a pinch of salt to drain.

  6) Prepare a pot with some water, the shallot, a pinch of salt,  the parsley, the pepper corns and bring it to the boil. At this point add the chicken breast and let it boil until completely cooked. Switch the gas off and let the meat cool in the stock.
    

    When warm, take meat off and cut it into stripes. Do not throw the stock away, you can use it for a risotto, to cook some pasta or in other preparation. Put it in a container and refrigerate for 1 day or freeze it.

    

    6)      While the vegetables “rest” cut the almonds and quickly brown them in a small pan or under the grill. Put them in a large bowl

7) Wash the capers under running water until they lose their salt or vinegar (taste them) and put them in the bowl.

8) Roughly cut the olives and add them in the bowl



    9) In a very large pan pour a generous quantity of oil (the oil must cover the eggplants) and bring it to the boil. Mind that the oil must not  smoke! Squeeze the eggplants to take off the bitter liquid, dry them on kitchen paper and put them in the boiling oil until they become soft and golden (10-15 min.).

    

    10) Drain them and put on kitchen paper and dry them from the oil  as much as you can. Put them with the other ingredients in the bowl.

    11) In the same oil fry the tomatoes and drain them well on new paper.
    


    


Put them in the same bowl, add the balsamic vinegar and gently stir to mix. Test it and, if necessary, add salt.


13) Cover with a lid or a cling film and let it cool down.(I prefer to refrigerate it)

14) When serving: I like the cold chicken breast stripes. Anyway if you like them warmer, warm them in a pan with some butter.

     15) You know I like to shape things and make portions, so I got a triangular ring and made shapes. But you can serve it loose as well.




Enjoy!

Tomato confit

The name sounds French, but I think that there are few other foods that taste so Mediterranean.
They will be great on your bruschetta and a fantastic appetiser or as a side dish to grilled meat!!!

Not quite a recipe as you can add your preferred herbs, just some suggestions on how to prepare them.

Ingredients:

Ripe Tomatoes (the quality you like best, I use cherry tomatoes because they cook faster, but you can use any kind of tomatoes)
Salt
Sugar
Extra virgin olive oil
Your preferred herbs dry or fresh. I like dried thyme and marjoram, but also dry basil is great. 

How to:

1) Wash the tomatoes and remove the stem. Cut them in a half. Put them in a colander so they can loose part of their water. Also, you can remove the seeds, if you want.

2) Warm your convection oven at 130°C / 200 °F.

3) Line a baking tin with non stick paper and put the halved tomatoes on it, the cut part up.

4) Season your tomatoes with salt, sugar, the herbs and extra virgin oil.

5) Put the baking tin in the oven and let the tomatoes  dry for about 2 hours. You can open the door many times, it will help to let the steam get out the oven, and check any time you like, they must be soft but dry.

6) Take out from the oven, let them cool down  and remove from the baking tin with a spoon. Try to take also that delicious, aromatic oil on the bottom and put it with the tomatoes in a bowl.

Eat warm or cold.

TIP:They also keep well in the fridge, simple put them in an air tight container and cover with more fresh extra virgin olive oil. When the tomatoes are finished, the oil will be great to season your pasta or meat. Try them with mozzarella as well... Absolutely delicious!