Tomato Bread Salad (Panzanella) with 2 Secret Ingredients

Tomato Bread Salad (Panzanella) with 2 Secret Ingredients

For Toast:
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2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Sourdough (or any chewy) bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick (enough to fill a medium skillet)
1 garlic clove, peeled

For Dressing:
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2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons anchovy paste (I like Amore brand)
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

For Salad:
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2 pounds ripe tomatoes, cut into bite size pieces
A handful of basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced paper thin
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Fry the bread in olive oil, cool slightly, rub with garlic, chop into cubes.
In a large bowl, combine all the dressing ingredients except for the oil and mix well. Pour in the oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Add tomatoes, basil, garlic, and onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and mix well. Taste and correct for salt and acidity. Mix in the toast. Let sit until the bread absorbs some of the juice and softens (5 to 10 minutes).

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Panzanella is a tomato bread salad and it’s one of 
those dishes that’s hard to mess up. I mean if you start with ripe tomatoes and with good chewy 
bread, it’s hard not to make something tasty. But today we are taking this dish from good to 
amazing with the help of two secret ingredients. The first one is anchovy paste. Alison 
Roman and I might have our differences, but if there is one thing we can both agree 
on is that anchovies rock. No! They don’t make the salad fishy. I’ve served this salad 
to dozens of people and not one figured out that the salad contained fish. Normally, I do 
things the hard way and Alison does things the easy way. But when it comes to anchovies, 
I am the low-brow, low-effort person. Opening a can of anchovies always leaves me with 
leftovers. Chopping them is a pain. It leaves my board greasy and fishy, which requires a lot 
of effort to clean. It’s true that some anchovy pastes have a slightly prickly bony texture. 
You’ll have to experiment until you find the brand you like. I like the Amore brand. It’s 
cheap and widely available. Once I switched from chopping anchovies to using a paste, my use 
of this fabulous umami booster has skyrocketed. The second secret ingredient is honey. 
I love honey in salad dressings. It balances the salt and umami of anchovies 
with sweetness and acidity. None of this overshadows the tomatoes. It just 
underscores their natural qualities. Tomatoes are naturally sweet, acidic, and 
umami-rich. This just makes them even more so. Now that you know all my 
secrets, let’s make the salad. Set a medium skillet over moderate heat and 
add a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Dunk both sides of the bread in oil and cook until 
the bread is brown and crisp on both sides. I like to oil both sides of the bread at the 
beginning of cooking. Otherwise the first side absorbs all the oil and there is not much 
left for the second side. Unfortunately, my market was out of my favorite chewy sourdough 
bread today, so I ended up with focaccia. It’s not the ideal bread for this salad because 
it’s too fresh and airy, but in a pinch that will do. If possible use a firmer bread 
that can stand up to all the tomato juices. Cool the bread just until you can 
comfortably handle it and rub it all over with garlic. I like to dunk the 
clove in salt to help release its juice. For this kind of salad, I don’t bother 
dirtying a second bowl for the dressing. I make it right in the bowl in which I plan 
to make my salad. Combine the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey, and anchovy 
paste. And mix with a fork or a whisk until completely blended. This dressing might not 
be a looker, but it’s a flavor powerhouse. Slowly pour in the olive oil while 
whisking. I use the hand that holds the bottle to tilt the bowl which 
makes the oil easier to integrate, but getting the dressing to emulsify is really 
optional for this dish. If you wanted to, you could really just dump in 
the oil and whisk vigorously. Ok, the dressing is done and we can 
get chopping. The tomato size matters. This dish relies on a pool of tomato juice, 
so it’s not a good use of cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes don’t need to be huge, but they need 
to be sizable and ripe. Cut your tomatoes in half and remove the cores. Then cut them into bite size 
pieces and add them to the bowl with the dressing. Cut some red onion very thinly. My onion is from 
a farm, so it has an unusual elongated shape. I thought it would be pretty to cut it into circles, 
but regretted it later. The circles that broke ended up as very long strands and were not very 
comfortable to eat. So learn from my mistake and cut your onion into shorter pieces. The important 
thing is that they are very thin. See — like this. Cut a small garlic clove crosswise into 
paper thin slices. Chop a big handful of basil leaves. Don’t get carried away. Leaving the 
pieces relatively large will give you something to sink your teeth into releasing more aroma. 
And finally cut the bread into bitesize pieces. Add the onions, garlic and basil to the salad. 
Season generously with salt. I don’t want to edit out this part so that you can see just how much 
salt I am adding. It is Diamond Crystal Kosher. You will need half this volume for most other 
salts, but it’s important to be generous. A little black pepper is nice too, but completely optional. 
Mix very well and don’t forget to taste and adjust the salt and the dressing. If the salad is not 
addictive, you need more salt. I also needed a bit more oil. Don’t be alarmed at the puddle of juice 
in the bottom of the bowl. A lot of it will be absorbed by the bread. Once the juice is perfectly 
seasoned, add in the bread and mix to combine. How long to let your salad sit depends on the 
sturdiness of the bread. Since I used bread that’s airy and fresh, I prefer to serve the salad right 
away. If I used bread that was chewy or stale, I might want to give it 10 minutes or 
so for the bread to absorb the juice. The salad and the croutons can be made up to 
an hour before serving and combined later. I hope this salad will help you use the 
bounty of late summer. Here are more very detailed culinary tutorials for you to check 
out and if you are ever in the Boston area, maybe I’ll see you in one of my classes.