This traditional Italian bread salad is given a Greek twist with feta cheese and kalamata olives. Crunchy pan-fried olive oil croutons are hard to resist.
I never understood the appeal of panzanella. Why would anyone toss soggy bread into their beautiful tomato and cucumber salad when they could have it warm and crusty on the side and slathered with butter instead?
I get it now.
What made me finally cross over? Four words: Ina Garten and homemade croutons.
Panzanella is a traditional Italian summer salad that was created as a way to use up leftover or slightly stale bread. The bread absorbs the tomato juices and vinaigrette, freshening it up. I've even seen recipes that called for soaking the pieces of bread in water first, then squeezing them 'dry' and mixing them into the salad.
None of this ever sounded appealing to me.
But chunky homemade croutons that have been coated with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, and pan-fried to perfection? Now that caught my attention. Toss in some feta cheese and kalamata olives and I was sold.
At the age of 43, I finally made my first batch of panzanella. And now I can't stop eating the stuff.
Recipe below. . .