Plated + Served: Sincerely Yours
This time of year, the tomatoes are sincere.
In other months, they practice their little tomato charade… looking like tomatoes but not smelling, or feeling, let alone tasting, like tomatoes. They are tomato poseurs.
But in these warm, waning days of summer, tomatoes, particularly the luscious and vibrant locally grown heirloom varieties, are bursting with honest flavor. They smell wonderfully tangy, and each variety tastes completely different. Green zebras taste tart and fresh, Mortgage Liters are sweet (and huge!), Cherokee Purple are dense and juicy and Brandywines are deliciously acidic and sweet.
I love tomatoes (can you tell?).
The infatuation began when I was small. I would pick cherry tomatoes out of Papa Daddy’s garden and drown them in salt. But the love affair really blossomed during a summer trip to Italy, where tomatoes always seem to be perfect and ripe and delicious.
What sealed the deal was eating a traditional Italian salad called Panzanella for the first time. This simple salad was made with fresh, hand-picked tomatoes, mild torpedo onions, sharp smelling basil, leftover ciabatta bread with a locally produced fruity olive oil and red wine vinegar drizzled on top.
I ate bowls and bowls every day.
This is still one of my favorite summertime treats (since I rarely buy tomatoes except in the summer). The traditional recipe calls for soaking the bread, but I prefer it toasted and crisp, like big, fat croutons. I find the salad holds longer and the crunchy bread adds a different dimension to the salad.
You can add a variety of ingredients to make this salad your own, like cheese, cucumbers, tuna, Italian olives (cerignola or gaeta for example), leftover chicken… you get the picture. Just be sure you include plenty of tomatoes—this time of year they are the star of the show!
Italian Bread and Tomato Salad prep: 20 minutes you’ll need… let’s get to it… cooking know how…
cook: 10 minutes
4 cups Italian bread, cut into 2 inch pieces
6 cups fresh tomatoes (any kind), cut into wedges (about 8 medium-size tomatoes)
1 cup fresh mozzarella cheese, balls, sliced or shredded (I like Bel Gioioso Ciliegini Mozzarella, but use what you like)
1/2 cup basil, cut into thin strips (this technique of cutting is called chiffonade-see below)
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Bake the cubed bread on a baking sheet for 5 to 7 minutes or until bread is crisp and golden brown: remove from oven and cool completely (about 15 minutes).
Place the bread, tomatoes, cheese and basil in a large bowl; stir gently with a rubber spatula.
Whisk the vinegar, oil and salt together in small bowl; drizzle on top of the salad and stir again to blend all the ingredients.
To cut herbs into thin strips (called chiffonade), stack the leaves on top of each other and roll like a cigar. Cut crosswise into thin slices.
In a few weeks I will be able to enjoy tomatoes again.
The salad made my mouth water, could smell the ingredients you
listed, plus the simpler recipes are always the best.
Mangia !!
Freshly picked tomatoes make all the difference! Let me know what you think of the salad after you make it! ¡Buen provecho!