(map) In the Mediterranean world – and diet – bread is not only the “staff of life, it approaches sacrality. There are many superstitions associated with bread: for example, never put a loaf on the table upside down, and never cut bread at the table. Bread is sliced away from the table and then the slices are put on the table (and broken when eaten, never cut). In rural homes the slices will eventually fan out over the tablecloth. When our farm neighbor cuts her homemade bread she hugs the loaf and slices it with a long knife directly towards her breast! (It is hard not to shut your eyes tightly when she slices, worrying about the knife stopping in time.).
Bread is never, never thrown out. Left-over bread soaked it in water is at times fed to the chickens, ducks, geese, and guinea fowl. But only if there are already enough bread crumbs for cooking and you are not about to make bruschetta (toasted bread, rubbed with garlic, sprinkled with salt and drizzled with olive oil, pronounced broo-SKET-ta) or panzanella.
Panzanella is a keynote dish of cucina genuina (“genuine cooking”, ie, traditional cuisine of homegrown ingredients) and all of the farmwomen make it in the summer. I like Peppa’s version best: here is how she makes this dish once considered a piatto povero (poor man’s dish).
PANZANELLA (“dried bread salad” – pane means “bread”)
Ingredients for 4 persons:
about 1 lb of nearly stale good homemade bread (or if purchasing, Italian or French-style breads)
4 ripe tomatoes
6 leaves of basil
1 large purple onion
1 stalk celery
1 medium-sized cucumber
extra-virgin olive oil (accept no substitutes and get the BEST you can)
salt, pepper
wine vinegar
optional: variety of salads (but not iceberg lettuce!)
Soak the bread in water til it softens, then squeeze all water out. Cut into small pieces, all vegetables. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper, vinegar and keep in cool place (though not refrigerator) til served.
Best NOT prepared ahead and refrigerated.
Variations: in the Lazio region, tomatoes and onions are omitted and capers, garlic, anchovies and parsley are pulverized together with mortar and pestle. Hot red pepper is added.
I enjoy adding new variations to the traditional panzanella (which was made only from ingredients out in the garden in the summertime): black olives, carrots, radishes, corn…even tuna.
(Extra Secret: And here is a secret learned from my Sicilian mother-in-law about the use of purple onion in salads: slice finely about 20 mins before making salad and salt. This will draw out the water, ie, “tenderize” the purple onion. Add to salad as is and then add extra salt to salad, if needed.)
For more of Umbria’s recipes, see the COOKING page of www.annesitaly.com.
- Contributed by Anne Robichaud. Anne has lived in Umbria since 1975 with her Italian husband Pino. They farmed for many years and raised three children. Anne offers guided tours of the Umbrian hilltowns and cooking classes in their Assisi countryside farmhouse. She writes frequently on Umbria and other areas of Italy. See www.annesitaly.com for more articles!
Mmmmmm! My nonna would make this. It has been many years since I last enjoyed this dish. I must attempt this myself soon…Delizioso!
Thank you for all your fabulous notes that I look forward to receiving each day.
Ciao!
thank you, one of my favourite Italian dishes, and great for using up all the bits lurking in the salad drawer, which is exactly what I’ll go and do now with this recipe to hand.
Sounds delicious and very easy to make! I love trying new recipes.
I remember my Calabrian grandfather cutting bread as you described, hugging it and cutting toward his chest.
Been making panzanella often this long and very hot summer…but I have never soaked the bread and squeezed it dry…thanks for the recipe!
Peppa, you are truly beautiful; we love the photo of you! Ann, as you know, the Italian Food Laws are often unwritten but so very strict. When first living here in 2002, we committed the unpardonable sin of serving grated cheese with linquine vongole to Italian friends and it was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room…their horror was so visible. Someone should write a book about the laws…Thanks for this great note.
I love this photo, and of course the recipe as well. Peppa looks like she loves life and that she prepared that panzanella with love. And I love that idea about a book about do’s and don’ts for the Italian table! Ciao, bella!
I can still remember when we visited my grandmother Lucia, her bread was always baked in a round loaf, when she sliced she also held it close to her “chest”, never an accident either. Everything she cooked was so delicious, anything left on the plate, we took a piece of bread an mopped away. Yum, yum
Lucile
I make this salad year round…it’s my favorite of all time. I often bring it to work for lunch…it’s easy to eat with a spoon and read a book at the same time! I, too, sometimes add chucks of cold cooked tuna or chicken. In my family our tradition was not to add vinegar, but a touch or two is good if you want it. We also don’t soak the bread before making…that way the bread soaks up all the tomato juices and olive oil while it sits and waits for the rest of the meal to be put together. YUM. Planning to make it tonight with supper.
Mille grazie to all for your warm and wonderful – and insightful! – comments. I will share each one with Peppa!
saluti da Assisi, Anne R
We live in southern Tuscany (20 years) and the panzanella is invariable – never with celery but I will try it of course, but my neighbours would be horrified! This is the most perfect of summer salads but must be made of the absolutely freshest and most perfect ingredients, especially the bread. Ours just crumbles perfectly with a little cold water, but I’ve tried it with inferior bread, and it’s inedible.
…and this remains one of the joys of Italy: varieties in cuisine, accents, traditions just in a matter of a few kilometers!
We are now in Sicily visiting my husband Pino’s family in Palermo. Dio mio, there are countless versions of the Sicilian caponata. A friend made caponata the other night with strips of cuttlefish in it!
Squisito!