Olivina has partnered up with Christopher Lee the Executive Chef from Eccolo Restaurant located in Berkeley CA. Chef Lee gives the home cook and opportunity to try some wonderful recipes using Olivina's Delicious Olive Oil. Check back soon to see how you can have your own recipes using Olivina Olive Oil featured on the website. Hope you find this recipe tantalizing for your taste buds.
Panzanella: Tuscan bread and tomato soup
Makes 8 servings
1 loaf day-old levain or other sourdough wheat bread
1 clove garlic
Red wine vinegar
Kosher or sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch basil
2 salt-packed anchovies, rinsed and filleted
2 small or 1 large slicing or armenian cucumbers, peeled
1 torpedo or fresh red onion, peeled sliced thinly
3-4 pounds dry-farmed early girls, cherry tomatoes,
and mixed heirloom tomatoes
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Make the tomato vinaigrette:
If some of your tomatoes are overripe, they will be perfect for the vinaigrette. Cut up 3-4 large tomatoes and season them with a bit (perhaps 1/2 teaspoon) of salt. Let the tomatoes sit for about 15 minutes, and then run them through a mouli, or food mill. If you don’t have a mouli, then just do your best to push them through a sieve.
This juice is the base of the vinaigrette. Add salt, olive oil, and red wine vinegar to taste. Do not make the vinaigrette too acidic, because the bread will soak it all up and become too tart. Pound the anchovies to a paste in a mortar and pestle (or just chop them up finely). Mix the anchovy paste into the vinaigrette.
Smash the garlic clove and add it to the vinaigrette. Add 5 basil stems to the vinaigrette as well, and just let everything sit together.
Slice the torpedo onion thinly and macerate it in 1/4 cup red wine vinegar. Peel a few cucumbers.
Make the torn croutons:
Remove the crust of the day-old bread with a bread knife. Tear the bread into rustic 1 square-inch croutons. You should have about 8 cups of croutons for 4-6 people. Place the croutons in a large bowl and toss them with 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil until they are lightly and evenly coated. Toast the croutons in a single layer on a cookie sheet at 400°F until they are golden brown and crunchy in the center, about 25-30 minutes. Turn the croutons with a spatula every 10 minutes to ensure that they brown evenly.
Slice and cut into pieces some perfectly ripe tomatoes, and season them with salt in batches.
To make the salad:
Pull the basil stems and crushed garlic out of the vinaigrette. Let the croutons cool and put some in a bowl and dress them with the vinaigrette about 15 minutes before you’re ready to serve your salad. The perfect panzanella has some soggy croutons and some crisp ones.
Add more croutons, tomato chunks, basil, cucumbers, and red onion to the bowl. Make sure the salt is right and add vinaigrette if needed. This salad should be juicy but not excessively so.
To plate the salad:
Place a few tomato slices on the platter and make sure they are properly seasoned. Carefully pile the panzanella mixture over. Add a bit of vinaigrette if needed to make the salad juicy enough. Stand back and admire.
