Panzanella salad..

Possibly the ultimate summer salad, panzanella is an Italian staple, from the glorious region of Tuscany, where the expression “what grows together goes together” might have been born.

Fresh, ripe, sweet tomatoes, the best peppery olive oil, basil…and chunks of delicious bread. What’s not to love?

As you can imagine with a salad that is made in quite possibly millions of homes, that has been handed down through generations, there are many variations and additions to the basic recipe, but the heart of it remains the same, so once you have nailed the basics, any embellishments are up to you.

Ingredients

1kg ripe mixed tomatoes: I like piccolo cherry tomatoes, halved, mixed with larger tomatoes to chop into chunks. 

300g day-old sourdough (you need a whole loaf, not a sliced loaf) or ciabatta, torn into large chunks (make sure they’re bite sized, once they start to soak up the juices there’s no way to cut them down to size!)

100ml extra virgin olive oil

50ml red wine vinegar

1 small shallot, very finely chopped

100g pitted olives – use your favourite from the deli bar

A large handful of basil leaves, roughly torn

Method

First you need to toast your bread: heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Spread the chunks of bread across a baking tray and drizzle with 1 tbsp of the oil. Bake for 10-15 mins, or until lightly toasted.

While your bread is toasting, place your tomatoes in a colander over a bowl, sprinkle over 1 tsp sea salt, then leave to sit for 15 mins. This draws out the water in the fruits and intensifies the flavour.

In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining oil, the vinegar and your finely sliced shallot. Season to taste. I occasionally add a couple of pinches of sugar, as I think it brings out the flavour of the tomatoes even more. 

Remove the croutons from the oven and allow to cool, then toss with the tomatoes, olive oil dressing, the olives and half the basil in a large bowl. 

Spoon the panzanella onto a serving plate and top with the remaining basil. At this point I often add a couple of torn up mozzarella balls (always tear, never cut with a knife, it is far more satisfying and just looks better, too!)

Let it all sit for 20-30 minutes before serving.

Growing your own tomatoes makes the salad taste even better

While this is a salad we enjoy all spring and summer long, there is a way to make it taste even better – by adding home grown tomatoes from your own garden.

Tomatoes are really easy to grow and can be planted in even the smallest of gardens, or a balcony. You don’t even need a greenhouse, just a spot that gets plenty of sun where you can fit a few pots or a growbag, or can fit a few plants into a sunny border. Home grown tomatoes, picked minutes before eating, really do taste so good.

I grow three types each summer, very much driven by what I find at my local garden centre when I go.

A favourite, which you will find in all garden centres I imagine, is the ever-reliable 

Gardeners Delight. It produces sweet, bright red, cherry tomatoes. For something a little different I try to find a yellow tomato too, such as F1 Honeycomb. These look great in the panzanella salad, bright jewels of gold.

I tried a beefsteak tomato last year, and while I didn’t get loads of fruit, it was very satisfying watching them get bigger and bigger as the days went on. The one I tried was called Crimson Blush, and was a vivid scarlet.

You can plant them into the ground, a pot or a specially made growbag. The most important thing is that when you put the plant in its place, you push in a long bamboo cane right next to it.

Tie a long piece of garden twine at the top of the cane and run it the length of the cane before cutting. The loose end of the twine should be wound around the top of the tomato plant. As the plant grows, you gently wind it around the string, and this supports the plant as it grows. 

As it puts out leaves on either side of the stem, it will also send out little shoots where the leaves meet the stem – nip these out, as the plant will waste energy on these rather than making fruit.

Tomato plants are thirsty things and need a good drenching, at the base of the plant, every day. 

Do not let the soil in the pot or grow bag dry out. They’re very shallow rooted, so can’t get down to the damper soil in a bed, either, so watering is vital.

Each week, feed with a ready-made tomato feed, such as Tomorite.

Then stand back and watch your scarlet spheres of happiness grow.

Eddie – Friday 16th May 2025.