Monday, July 28, 2014

Panzanella Salad, A Cottage Cooking Club Recipe


Today's post is the third installment of the Cottage Cooking Club, a virtual cooking group started by Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness. As a group we are cooking our way through the "River Cottage Veg", cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. The key idea is to incorporate more vegetables in our daily meals. Every month Andrea will select 10 recipes and we can pick and choose which one or ones we want to blog about in a single post.


This month I choose a classic Panzanella, which is essentially a bread and tomato salad. The whole idea is to use simple fresh ingredients. The outcome will depend greatly on the quality of the ingredients you put into it. The tomatoes should be at their peak, sweet and ripe. A few glugs of a good olive oil and slightly stale cubed bread are the backbone of this recipe.


The bread will soak up the tomato and olive oil dressing and pick up the flavors from the Kalamata olives, capers and feta cheese. It is suggested that you allow the ingredients to rest together a bit for more flavor. Garnish with fresh basil and serve.

This recipe was easy to follow and certainly showcased the ripe summer tomatoes I used in the dish.

Recipe adapted from "River Cottage Veg", by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, cookbook chapter Hearty Salads, Panzanella, page 86.

To see what recipes the other members chose for this month, head over to the LYL post for July on the CCC website, by clicking here.


Cheri Savory Spoon
Cheri Savory Spoon

Mysavoryspoon was first started in 2010 as a way to journal recipes that I had collected from cookbooks, magazines, family and friends. Most everything was savory, using legumes and whole grains. Along the way I discovered a love for baking. Now a couple times a month you might see some type of sweet pie or treat.

52 comments:

  1. Your salad looks delicious Cheri! The panzanella was a popular choice this month with good reason with all of the lovely tomatoes around.

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    1. Hi Zosia, it was a great salad, having a nice time cooking along with everyone.

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  2. What a delicious and refreshing salad Cheri - it looks so flavoursome and colourful! :D

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

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  3. Cheri, lovely looking Panzanella - wonderful choice and thank you for participating in the Cottage Cooking Club this month!
    Andrea

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  4. Virtual cooking club sounds nice and fun! Your Panzanella looks interestingly tasty and healthy, too!

    Julie
    Gourmet Getaways

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  5. Panzanellas are my favorite kinds of salads! This sounds so fresh and delicious.

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  6. I love bread salads. Your Panzanella looks very tasty, Cheri.

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    1. Thanks Angie, it's all about the tomatoes and right now they are delicious.

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  7. I think a panzanella salad with all these fresh ingredients in would be really hard to beat. This looks a little like a Greek salad ... but with the bread added. Perfect!

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    1. Hi Helen, you know your right, I had not thought about it liker that but it is like a Greek salad.

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  8. Hi Cheri, Nice Post for a nice recipe. I really enjoyed the Panzanella, I like how you incorporated the feta cheese. Even given the clean freshness along with bold flavor and bright colors, still the dish needed just a bit of something else and the feta cheese is a terrific accompaniment. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Hi Peggy, yes I agree the feta gave it a little something. Thanks!

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  9. This is just the perfect summer recipe! I can't wait for market fresh ripe summer tomatoes to come back into season so I can make a big bowl of this!

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  10. I love panzanella salad. I often grill the veggies and bread in the summer. Always hits the spot. Thanks, Cheri!

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  11. I would have picked panzanella, too! SO wonderful with summer tomatoes!!!

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  12. Great salad Cheri, I cant wait for summer so I can try it!

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    1. Hi Karen, I keep forgetting our summer is really your winter.

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  13. I have never tried this salad and I will remedy that in summer :)

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    1. Hi Tandy, this was the first time I made this type of salad and we really enjoyed it.

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  14. How funny! I just made panzanella last night for dinner with grilled eggplant slices. It's perfect for all those heirloom tomatoes!

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    1. Hi Susan, oh that sounds delicious! love eggplant!

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  15. I haven't had (much less made!) panzanella in years! And it's such a terrific dish. We have a whole bunch of tomatoes that will soon be ripe. Hmmm. ;-)

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  16. It looks divine! Great use for some stale bread and the piles of ripe tomatoes everyone is swimming in right now.

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    1. Hi Kelly, tomatoes are so good this time of year, love that there are plenty.

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  17. Such a lovely summer dish! I love that book too and need to revisit it! Delicious!

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  18. This looks so good! I'm getting hungry just looking at this!

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  19. I can totally understand how this simple salad will be as good as the fresh seasonal ingredients you put into it. A good panzanella salad is so satisfying. I had a really good one at a friend's birthday party too long ago...I wish I had a plate of this now.

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    1. Thanks Monica, it is satisfying, love tomatoes this time of year.

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  20. Your salad looks wonderful! I enjoyed this too - actually as an "extra credit", but it's perfect in the summer when the tomatoes are at their peak, as you noted!

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    1. Hi Candy, thanks, your so sweet, I've really have to step up my game when cooking with you guys as I think I am the only one that made only one dish.

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  21. It looks really lovely. I don't have any recipe books by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall but I love his recipes.

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    1. Hi Corina, I love his recipes as well, they are very easy to follow and must ingredients are easily obtainable.

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  22. A panzanella salad is one of my favorite summer dishes. Your salad looks perfect!
    Sam

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  23. A perfect summer salad to use warm, ripe tomatoes from the garden!

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  24. I love panzanella! Thanks for sharing your version, Cheri!

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  25. This was a wonderful salad. I have been wanting to make it for the longest time. Like you said, the key is to use the best, freshest ingredients you can find. I did add a couple of cloves of garlic to the tomato juice - I just felt it would need a little boost. I think it added the perfect touch to this salad.

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  26. Lovely panzanella! The recipes this month were perfect for summer, weren't they?

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