You know what it’s like when you get back from a holiday and there’s nothing in the fridge apart from a sad carrot and a stinky piece of cheese you thought might just last until you got back? Yes? I thought so! Well, imagine how little there was at home for us after an absence of almost 5 months. A deeply sad situation. Thank god for the local bar/restaurant where we were welcomed with open arms on our first night and sent home with bread, tomatoes and onions to see us through the next morning.
After my favourite Spanish breakfast I got to thinking about how inventive we can all be when we have very little to play around with. Every country has a dish for leftover bread and the Italian bread and tomato salad called Panzanella came to mind.
We have litres and litres of our very own beautiful olive oil which was milled just a few weeks ago and our lemon tree is loaded with lemons. I added a tin of tuna from the larder (not very authentic but what the heck) and a handful of parsley from the garden. Honestly, I should leave the fridge bare more often so that I can remember to enjoy dishes like this.
Ingredients (you choose the quantities)
- Stale bread cut into small cubes
- Roughly chopped tomato and onion
- Chopped parsley (basil is more authentic though)
- A finely chopped clove of garlic
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- Lashings of olive oil and plenty of lemon juice or wine vinegar
- Add some chopped cucumber if your fridge is being kind to you
- Optional – a tin of tuna (omit to keep it vegetarian)
Put all the ingredients (except the seasoning and dressing) in a bowl and mix with your hands. Dress lavishly with oil, add lemon or vinegar to taste and season. Mix again with your hands, squishing the tomato a little so that the juices run out. Leave it for at least 10 minutes so that it can absorb all those wonderful flavours and enjoy!
Chica Andaluza 
Live here, the cupboards are almost always bare. We both hate shopping 🙂 When we moved from the US we didn’t bring any food with us and it was an adventure building up our stocks again. Are you back for a while now?
Will have to send you a Red Cross Parcel 😉 Probably only back for a month or so as we have more work waiting for us in England…tiring but a good thing!
I love panzanella, Tanya! It reminds me of late Summer, when we’re flooded with tomatoes. I pick the ripest ones to make panzanella. That local restaurant surely knew what they were doing. 🙂
Yes, when the tomatoes are really ripe and juicy it takes this dish to another level!
Ooo, I know I will love this!
Have a lovely day Tanya.
🙂 Mandy xo
I think you’d like it! You have a great day too 🙂
Panzanella….. Who would have thought my “throw-together” favourite lunch dish actually had a name. 🙂
My tomatoes and red onions are just perfect at the moment – and there’s still some basil growing in the garden.
Maybe you were channelling your inner Italian without even knowing it 😉
How happy you must be to be back up the mountain. Have fun!
It’s a lovely feeling being back!
I’ll bet! So happy for you.
Almost, but still delicious – lovely 🙂
Thanks Frugal!
Looks yummy. It was almost certainly even more tasty with that sunshine too!
Sunshine makes everything look, feel and taste better I think!
Hi , Tania , welcome back.
Did you know that the vegetarian version is served for breakfast in Tuscany?
Thank you for reminding me Panzanella!
I didn’t know that =- it would be perfect for me as I love savoury dishes for breakfast (I even eat soup sometimes!)
It sounds like you received a warm welcome home 🙂
We did – I always feel like a royal stepping off the royal yacht when we walk into places for the first week!
Welcome back, lovely salad!
Thank you!
Yum! Crunchy, slurpy and oily! All the good sensations in a bowl 😀
How true!
So that’s where you are 🙂 I can see the sunshine in the photo – both the recipe and the sunshine get my vote
Yes, we’re back here for a short while but I still want to meet up with you when we’re back your way!
Sounds like a satisfying meal!
Simple but tasty!
This is lovely! Welcome back. Very refreshing.
What a fantastic supper and the light looks pretty delicious too:)
We don’t get light like that in Bexhill that’s for sure 😉
Thank you Amanda!
Welcome home…I’m sure it is nice to be back. Your panzanella salad looks good and I love the nice red tomatoes in it.
Thank you Karen!
Bread and tomatoes are always good with me. I’d have scrounged a bit of cheese from somewhere too 🙂
Now there’s a thought….next time 😉
Yum! Some of the best dishes come from enforced ingenuity, don’t they? 🙂
My grandmother used to tell me “necessity is the mother of invention”! Wise words indeed 🙂
Love panzanella and it sister fattoush and make them regularly and enjoy them hugely even when the cupboard is not bare 🙂 ! The taste buds sing!!
And now I’m thinking about fattoush for breakfast!
Well what jumped out at me from your post was not the Recipe that you have given but the aspect of our mind which revs up the creativity and compromise quotient in times of need. What would you say makes that happen?
Shakti
I think you hit the nail on the head mentioning “times of need” – we can be pretty ingenious when we have too and I love that sometimes we are forced to do this. Of course, for many people this is simply a way of surviving, and that is so much tougher.
I always turn to pasta in situations like this, next time I’ll be more inventive like you.
I didn’t even have any pasta in the cupboard!
Your panzanella is making me crave good tomatoes…which we don’t really have here at the moment. But as soon as we do, I’m making this! I love the addition of the tuna, too. So nice with all the flavors you have here. Brilliant improvisation, Tanya!
It’s definitely nicer with ripe juicy tomatoes but we can usually get pretty tasty ones here (albeit grown in polytunnels) but it worked a treat!
A marvelous Welcome Home Meal…how’s the weather up there?
Gorgeous – a little chilly with some rain ont he way but it’s been warm and sunny 🙂
Your own olive oil…I am doing that disgusting thing that Homer Simpson does when he thinks of doughnuts…totally disgusting…olive…oil…drooooooool!…
We´re so lucky, we have about 30 olive trees and this year was a good year. The oil is especially fantastic at this time of year when it has jsut been pressed) and we take it to a local old fashioned mill where they cold stone press the olives. The oil is tangy and fruity – wish I could send you some!
Wish I could dip some gorgeous bread into some… who am I kidding…I could drink it from a glass! 🙂 You must show us some of it in one of your posts… a lovely glass bottle of Chez Chica 2014 vintage 🙂