It’s been a rough couple of months for tomato lovers as hundreds of people across the nation became infected with Salmonella serotype Saintpaul. Investigators suspected raw tomatoes from select areas in Florida and Mexico. The U. S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers against eating raw red plum, red Roma, and round red tomatoes, as well as their freshly packaged products like salsa and pico de gallo.

I closely followed media reports and kept current with updates on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA websites. Local markets did a stellar job removing suspected produce and posting signs that informed customers of safe choices.

Once I’d done my homework, I felt confident heading to the market in search of the scrumptious local tomatoes I adore. After all, it’s just not summer without them! I headed to the San Francisco ferry plaza farmers market for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions and fresh basil leaves—the main ingredients in panzanella bread salad. This rustic Tuscan dish requires perfectly ripe produce and best-quality bread such as French sourdough or an Italian country loaf. Don’t even consider supermarket sandwich bread because it will disintegrate and make your salad gushy.

I had a little trouble finding tomatoes, but finally located two vendors that proudly displayed several varieties  including my favorite heirlooms in a riotous palette of colors and sizes. Their lumpy-bumpy shapes always make me smile and their flavor never disappoints. And with such a rainbow of hues, I knew my salad would sparkle like jewels in the summer sun.

At home I added some capers and dressed the salad simply with salt, pepper, olive oil and wine vinegar. Delicious! The only way this could be better would be with just-picked vegetables from a home garden.

Panzanella
     
~6 slices  country style bread, torn in 1/2-inch chunks (makes about 4
cups) 
2 large  ripe tomatoes, seeded and cut in chunks
1/2 cup  extra virgin olive oil
10–12     fresh basil leaves
½ small  red onion, thinly sliced
1 small  cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
1 small  orange pepper, sliced
1/2 small  yellow pepper, sliced
2 tablespoons capers, drained
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1. Place the bread, tomatoes, and ¼ cup of the olive oil in a spacious bowl, mix. Let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Tear the basil leaves and add them to the bread mixture.

3. Add the onion, cucumber, peppers, and capers; mix well.

4. Drizzle the remaining olive oil and the red wine vinegar over the salad. Season with the salt and pepper and mix to distribute.

5. Adjust the seasonings, oil, and vinegar to your taste.

6. Serve immediately.
 
Serves 4–6

Get a printable Panzanella salad recipe.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 at 9:01 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.