Panzanella is a salad made with toasted bread and vegetables tossed in vinegar & oil based dressing. This recipe included yellow sweet bell pepper, cucumber, onion, salt, garlic, black pepper, capers, anchovies and tomatoes. I made this recipe last summer when tomatoes were at their peak. In addition to the bright red slicing tomato, I was able to find two heirloom tomatoes. The first was a red one the color of fresh meat. The second was the color of champagne. Once the skin was removed both were translucent like stained glass.
The best way to describe this salad is balance. It has the right mix of salty, sweet and pungent. The texture was a balance of soft & chewy, and crisp & crunchy. It tastes like the Summer’s essence. The only thing that would have made this better is a warm breeze from across the salty sea.