Short of tossing expired jars and old fruits & veggies, I try not to throw anything out, even stale, old bread.
The Italians are well know for having dishes that stretch ingredients and make good use of of any leftovers, including old bread. Panzanella is any salad that includes bread in it.
I’ve taken the Panzanella and combined it with a Greek salad. Make a little extra dressing as your dried bread will suck up the juices and your salad will not be flooded in dressing.
There are many variations on the Horiatiki salad and I’ve stuck to the basics except for a couple of twists like using a roasted pepper and adding a Greek islands flare with some capers.
Get your fork out and stab this salad!
Horiatiki (Greek) Panzanella Salad
2 medium sized tomatoes, sliced
1 small red onion, halved & thinly sliced
1/2 roasted yellow pepper, peeled, sliced
1/3 cucumber, sliced
1 cup of dry/crusty bread, broken into fork sized pieces
1 slab of good Greek feta, crumbled
1 Tbsp dried Greek oregano
2 tsp of capers, rinsed salt & pepper to taste
3/1 ratio of extra-virgin oil and red wine vinegar
- Combine all the ingredients down to the capers in a salad bowl. Add your dressing and toss well. Adjust seasoning with salt & pepper.
I’ve been meaning to try panzanella forever – this salad looks wonderful, Peter!
This looks like a nice and tasty way of using up that leftover bread. It does just seem wrong to just throw it out.
That looks great! I always turn my stale bread into bread crumbs, but this also sounds like a fabulous idea.