Panzanella is an Italian salad that uses leftover bread and vegetables from the garden, hopefully your garden. So next time you have a nice Italian-style bread and it is a few days old don't throw it away, use it in this salad.

This will serve 4 people.

Ingredients

Half a red onion, sliced thinly

300-500g cherry tomatoes, the more colours the better.

handful of parsley, chopped

basil, about 10 leaves'

4 tbs olive oil

2 tbs red wine vinegar

1 stick of celery or half capsicum, chopped finely

1 cucumber, skin removed, core the watery centre and chop the rest

4 slices of crusty Italian bread

pepper to taste

Method

Place onion in a bowl with a dash of salt and splash of vinegar, leave to one side.

I usually have this dish with grilled steak, so the grilling pan is hot. Place the bread on this, toast

 both sides. Remove and break into small chunks.

Drain the onions and toss all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and vinegar in a jug with some pepper, mix and taste. Add extra vinegar and pepper if needed. Pour the contents of the jug over your salad, give it a good mix with your hands and you are done.

I usually have this with a piece of steak, rump will do.

Serve alongside your steak that has been grilled and rested.

Back to opinion