Rocket Panzanella Salad (Panzanella salad with arugula)
Eating well doesn’t have to cost the earth – or your waistline. And Panzanella – a summer salad from the Tuscany region - is one dish that illustrates the point perfectly, with stale bread being its main ingredient! (Don’t worry, it includes lots of other tasty ingredients as well!). This particular panzanella recipe is easy on the calories too, with just 215 per serving – meaning you could serve it as a starter or side dish, should you want to.
Ingredients
Instructions
4 steps
Prepare the bread cubes - If you have time to plan ahead, leave out a tray of bread cubes (covered with a clean tea towel or a cake cover) for approx. 24 hours - the pieces should be crusty by then. If you don’t have so much time, you can always bake the bread cubes on a tray in the oven (350 degrees), for 15 minutes or so – until the cubes have dried out.
Make the dressing - Whisk the oil, vinegar, honey, mustard, and garlic in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper.
Prepare the vegetables - Chop the tomatoes and onion, and combine with the arugula in a large bowl. (You can use whatever vegetables you like; the ingredients we’re using today tend to be used in more traditional panzanella recipes, but it’s really up to you what goes in – just be careful of the fat and sugar content)
Put it all together - Add the bread and the dressing and toss the ingredients gently, before serving.
Notes: Background
Panzanella
- Panzanella is a Tuscan Summer salad, which includes chunks of soaked stale bread and tomatoes, sometimes also onions and basil, dressed with olive oil and vinegar.
- Interesting fact – panzanella was based on onions, not tomatoes, until the 20th century.
- Other popular ingredients people put with the dish—lettuce, olives, mozzarella, capers, anchovies, celery, carrots, red onion, cucumber, tuna, parsley, boiled eggs, mint, bell peppers and lemon juice
- Florentine traditionalists disapprove of variations on the original recipe!
Photos
Notes: Ingredients
Arugula (rocket – UK / roquette – French)
- Botanical name: Eruca sativa
- Belongs to the same family of vegetables as kale and cauliflower
- Its strong, peppery and distinctive-tasting leaves have long been grown in Italy (amongst other places)
- For this reason, you find arugula/rocket used in lots of Italian recipes.
- Arugula has various health benefits, with it containing antioxidants and detoxifying enzymes.
- It’s a good source of fibre and a multitude of vitamins and minerals: vitamins A, C and K, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and manganese.
- Arugula also provides high levels of protein, thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, zinc, copper, and pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) for raising good cholesterol levels and lowering the bad.
Well it might sound like something you’d spend hours making for a dinner party, but as we’ve just seen, making your own Tuscan panzanella is actually really easy. It’s a good way of using up left over bread, too!
I hope you feel inspired and confident enough to give a go.
