Panzanella: Italian Bread Salad with Bocconcini and Local Tomatoes Recipe

They’re finally here. Ripe, luscious, locally-grown tomatoes. All year long I dream about these juicy fruit/vegetables. And now that they’ve arrived, we’re eating them every single day. For lunch and dinner.



You don’t need to do much to dress up a perfect, sun-ripened tomato. A little salt, pepper and maybe a dab of mayonnaise is enough to send me into gustatory ecstasy. Add a slab of rustic Italian bread and call it dinner. And I do just that, on the rare summer evening when I dine alone.

But when preparing dinner for my family, I need to add a little more substance to simple tomato-based dishes. I might make a Cheddar Tomato Pie. Or No-Cook Summer Tomato Pasta.

Or this Panzanella, Italian Bread Salad with Bocconcini and Local Tomatoes. Panzanella puts some of my all-time favorite foods in a single bowl: Italian bread. Seasonal tomatoes. Fresh herbs. Extra virgin olive oil. And bocconcini—tender, milky “bitefuls” of mozzarella. The cheese has the added bonus of heartiness, so my kids don’t tuck into a bowl of cereal an hour after dinner.

My version of Panzanella, a traditional Tuscan summer side dish, is very simple. I don’t want much getting in the way of my tomato-bread fixation. I add only red onion and cheese to the bread and tomatoes, then toss with oil and vinegar.



But Panzanella is one of those flexible salads that works well with just about any seasonal leftover in your fridge. Feel free to add:

• Olives—black oil-cured are my favorite
• Roasted red peppers
• Sliced hard-boiled eggs
• Capers
• Tuna
• Cucumber
• Other seasonal vegetables
• Chopped parsley or other fresh herbs

While you don’t have to be picky about add-ins, you do need to be careful about the key ingredient: bread. If possible, make it a rustic loaf with a thick, dark crust. And not a fresh loaf. You’ll want to use bread that’s been hanging around your kitchen for at least a day.



Some people even go to the trouble of toasting the bread cubes into croutons. But why heat up the kitchen if you don’t have to?

I buy an extra-large round loaf of Italian bread–lucky me, I live fairly close to Madonia Bakery on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. They make a huge rustic loaf with crust burnt to perfection. As we eat our way through the bread over several days, I cut off and save the loaf’s dried ends. By day three or so, I’ve accumulated enough slices of dried-to-stale-perfection bread. The hardened bread makes the perfect sponge for the Panzanella’s tomato juices, fragrant olive oil, vinegar, onion and garlic.

Panzanella: Italian Bread Salad with Bocconcini and Local Tomatoes Recipe

1 pound of day-old bread, cut into cubes—about 8 cups
1 pound bocconcini or mozzarella cheese cut into cubes
6 medium sized tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 small purple onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons fresh herbs—I use basil and oregano—or 1 teaspoon dried herbs
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine or balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Cold water

1. To make dried bread cubes, you can use my method of accumulating slices of bread over a few days. Or slice the bread into cubes and let it sit out to dry for a couple of hours.
2. To seed tomatoes, slice off the stem-end of the tomato and scoop out seeds with your finger. I prefer tomatoes unpeeled for this rustic dish. If you don’t like tomato skins, however, see these directions and photos for peeling tomatoes. Cut tomatoes into chunks.
3. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, bread cubes, bocconcini or mozzarella, sliced onion and herbs.
4. In a small bowl, mix olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt and pepper.
5. Pour dressing over bread and tomato mixture, tossing to coat ingredients. If you are serving immediately and salad is too dry, add water—one tablespoon at a time—to moisten. You’ll only need one or two tablespoons: As the tomatoes release their juices, they soak into and soften the dried bread. If you are reserving the salad to eat later, do not add extra water.

Serves 6-8.