Wednesday, September 19, 2012

A great recipe from Tuscany to use up leftover bread


I guess the problem of having leftover bread is fairly common in most households. It is nearly impossible to buy the right amount of bread that will not go stale, but is still enough for everybody in the family. Even though I really hate throwing out food, I quite often just don’t know what else to do with pieces of dry bread. I know that one can grind the bread and use it as breadcrumb, but seriously, who uses that much breadcrumb?
Luckily, having leftover bread has always been a problem for housewives, so they have already come up with solutions, we just have to learn them! I was really excited to learn this new recipe, and I know I won’t throw out bread any more: there is a so much better use for it!
Panzanella, the Tuscan bread salad (from leftover bread)
Bread salad, or panzanella is a traditional Italian recipe from Tuscany, and I am sure everybody will love it. There are no fancy ingredients in it, so it is very cheap, and it is so simple that it nearly takes no time at all to assemble. Yet, it is so tasty that no one will realize that they are actually eating mostly dry bread.
Ingredients:
200 g (7 oz) dry bread
3-4 tomatoes
1 purple onion
1 handful of basil leaves
4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar
5 tablespoons of olive oil
salt, pepper

Instructions:
Cut the bread in small pieces, put them in a bowl, and pour the white wine vinegar over them. Mix well. Chop the onion and the tomatoes, and add to the bread mixture. Tear the basil leaves into small pieces, and mix into the salad. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
This is a salad that will get even better, if you let it in the fridge overnight. It works very well with fish or meat. It is a salad and a side dish at the same time. Its intensive, but not too acidic taste makes it very delicious, and it is hard to get bored of it! of course, the given amounts are just approximates, using for example more tomatoes will just make it even better.
Enjoy!

7 comments:

  1. I love this bread salad. It looks tasty!

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  2. Panzanella is one of the best ways I know of to use up leftover bread, Zeeona. I usually "toss" bread into the freezer before I feel it will go stale and then I make a big pan of bread pudding!!! (I love when there are all kinds of different breads. It makes an unusual bread pudding:) Your bread salad sounds delicious. Next time, before I put the bread in the freezer, I may just need to remember to make bread salad!

    Thanks for sharing...

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    1. Bread pudding also sounds good, I will look for a recipe. Thanks for the tip, Louise!

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  3. GORGEOUS! I have some leftover sourdough that is just dying to be made into this!!!

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  4. I love Panzanella! Your's looks awesome!

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  5. Hallo! I can't PM you, but I love your recipes and wanted to interlink our blogs. I've added your blog to my side-bar, feel free to do the same if you want!
    onepoundmeals.blog.com

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    1. Thank you, I am flattered :D I've been planning to add a 'blogs to read' section to my sidebar, I will remember to add yours, too!

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