I guess you can say this Tuscan Panzanella Salad is authentic… it’s the exact recipe I made while at a cooking class in Tuscany last month! It couldn’t be any easier to make and the simplicity of ingredients and flavors come together to create a delightful, simple salad. Perfect for warm summer days!
The Chef and me…
Tuscan Panzanella Salad
An authentic Tuscan Panzanella Salad recipe from my cooking class in Tuscany.
- Yield: 4 1x
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 200 g bread (about 1 cup)
- 100 g onion (about 1/2 cup)
- 100 g celery (about 1/2 cup)
- 100 g tomatoes (about 1/2 cup)
- 20 g vinegar (about 4 teaspoons)
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
- salt to taste
- basil to garnish
Instructions
- Cut the bread into cubes and toast in a hot pan or oven using olive oil. When bread is cool transfer to bowl and season with vinegar and a little bit of water to moisten the bread, allowing the bread to soak for one hour.
- Chop the onion, celery and tomatoes, then season with salt and olive oil. (I also seasoned with a little black pepper)
- Add the bread to the vegetables and toss together.
- Garnish with basil (I also added a little chopped basil to the vegetables)
Notes
The ingredients are listed in grams since that is how the recipe was given to me. I converted it roughly to cups from a conversion calculator I found on the internet. The proportion of bread to each vegetable is 2:1 so you don’t really need to worry too much about the quantities!
Use any crusty bread. I used a combination of sourdough and a crusty country style bread that I had leftover sitting in my freezer (thawed, of course).
Use a light white wine vinegar or white balsamic. I used champagne vinegar.
I used red onion since that’s what we used in the cooking class and also added chopped basil to the salad as well as garnish. Also added some shaved parmesan in the picture.
Taste and adjust seasoning (salt & pepper, olive oil, etc) to your liking.