Panzanella

 PANZANELLA

Panzanella is the name of a Tuscan summer dish; a poor dish that was eaten by the farmers, who were working in the fields all day long.The main ingredients are: stale bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, basil, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil.

Ingredients

- 15  leaves of basil
- salt
- black pepper

- 400g of bread

-1 cucumber

- 3 spoon of white wine vinegar

- 1 big red onion

- extra virgin olive oil

-2 tomatoes

To prepare Panzanella you should peel and cut the red onions into thin slices(1) and put them soaking in a small bowl with some water and 1 tbsp of white wine vinegar (2), for at least two hours. Peel a cucumber too (3).




Cut it into thin washers and put them aside (4). At the end wash and cut the tomatoes into small pieces (5). Take four slices of Tuscan bread and remove the crust with a knife (6).




Wet them in a solution of water and vinegar without drenching it too much (7). When the bread is soft, squeeze it and break it with the hands and put it in a salad bowl (8). Drain the red onions (9).




Mix them with the bread (10) add tomatoes (11)  and cucumbers (12), 




and some hand chopped basil (13). Mix gently all the ingredients with a spoon.  Flavor the panzanella with some extravergin olive oil, and some salt and pepper too (14). Let the Panzanella rest in the fridge for at least one hour. The Panzanella is ready! (15)

                                                                                        Beatrice Landi