Valentina Harris

Panzanella

Bread and Tomato Salad

Preparation info
  • Serves

    4

    • Difficulty

      Easy

Appears in
Recipes from an Italian Farmhouse
Recipes from an Italian Farmhouse

By Valentina Harris

Published 1995

  • About

This is a perfect dish for a summer holiday: it can be made in advance, requires no cooking and is both filling and delicious. My mother can remember her childhood in Tuscany when the sea was so unpolluted that the bread was dipped in the sea, wrapped in a clean cloth, to soak it through. Sadly, this is inadvisable in this day and age.

Ingredients

  • 8 thick slices coarse country-style bread
  • 5 large ripe firm tomatoes
  • 1 cucumber

Method

Cover the bread in cold water and leave it to soak for about 5 minutes. Squeeze the bread dry in your hands, then put it in a salad bowl.

Slice the tomatoes, cucumber and onion finely, then mix into the bread. Tear the basil into tiny pieces and mix it in also. Dress with the olive oil and vinegar (more olive oil and vinegar can be used if you like a richer dish), season with salt and p