fortification fridays - panzanella variations

Summer is magic. Supper can be thrown together with what you find in the garden (or farmer's market), olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper. Sometimes even less. If you are like me, your wonderful husband is caught up in the thrill of the grill, and he makes the entree every night. I'd be happy with grilled vegetables every day, but he makes scallops, fish, shrimp kebabs, bulgogi, pork ribs, chicken wings, yogurt chicken breasts...you get the picture.

I am in charge of the side dishes. This one is famous -- surely you've made it -- an Italian classic, panzanella. It's a Tuscan salad made of day-old bread, tomatoes, thinly sliced onion, and olive oil, plus a few herbs if you have them. To me, it's the essence of summer, since I can always leave a half-loaf of bread on the counter overnight, and the garden bears tomatoes and basil, plus any number of veggies I throw in to make variations. It takes very little time to make and is hearty enough for a main course. It's fine left over for the next day's lunch, too. In short, it's perfect for the hot, tired remodeler. Some people get very fussy about the "authentic" panzanella, but my thought is that if it tastes good with bread and tomato, it will make a good panzanella. It's too hot to argue about such things.

By the way, I wanted to thank the few people who actually make these recipes and comment on them. If you run into problems with the recipes, would you let me know? I'd love to perfect them, and appreciate your interest in my cooking.

Panzella (and variations)

Serves: 4 for a light summer supper
Kitchen Needs: None (ahhh!)

1/2-3/4 loaf of crusty Italian bread, day-old
1/4 cup water or 1/2 cup tomato juice (I use liquid from my homemade canned tomatoes)
2-3 large, perfectly ripe, delicious tomatoes
1/4 very thinly sliced medium-sized red onion (or use a Walla Walla if you're in the Pacific Northwest)
a handful of basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (which should never be called EVOO because food doesn't need nicknames)
1 T. good red wine vinegar
salt and freshly ground pepper

Cube the bread into 1-inch square cubes (or tear it in little pieces). If your bread isn't day old, toast the cubes to dry it out a bit. Sprinkle the water or tomato juice on top, mix well, and let sit for about 30 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes, onion, basil, vineagar, olive oil, salt and pepper (to taste). Let salad sit for 30 more minutes on the counter before serving. (The picture is my salad just before I mixed it and let sit for this final 30 minutes.) The bread will soak up the juices, crumble, add a texture to the salad that's almost like couscous. Serve with a bit more olive oil drizzled on top and a few grindings of pepper.

And the variations:

- Add cucumber or celery;

- Add 1 T. capers, 2 smashed and chopped anchovies, hot pepper to taste, a minced clove of garlic;

- Add red, yellow and green peppers, and parsley;

- Add cucumber and dill (instead of basil);

- Add Italian import tunafish and capers;

- Add celery, Old Bay (instead of basil) and crab meat.