Panzanella Italian Bread Salad
Ingredients
- 5 slices of baguette, about 150g (5 1/2 oz) in total
- 8 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 small cucumber, about 100g (3 1/2 oz)
- 5 cherry tomatoes, about 159g (5 1/2 oz)
- 2 spring onions
- 3-4 sprigs of basil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Preparation
Preheat the oven to as high as it will go. Cut the baguette into bite-sized cubes and put in a bowl. Add 4 tbsp of the oil and mix together well with your hands.
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and spread the bread out over it. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 10 minutes, until crisp. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, chop the cucumber into bite-sized chunks. Halve the tomatoes. Trim the spring onions then slice into rings. Pick off and shred the basil leaves. Mix together the cucumber, tomatoes, spring onions, basil, and cubes of bread.
Stir together the remaining oil with the vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper to make the dressing. Transport the dressing and salad separately and ideally combine them 20 minutes before you are ready to eat, so the bread can absorb the dressing.
