Panzanella

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Panzanella

This dish was invented because it was believed it was a sin to throw away old home made bread. If a family still had some leftover bread, when the time came to bake fresh bread again, and that happened once a week.
After having fed the chickens, the pig and other farm animals, then my nonna Zita would make the family panzanella, and only if it was summertime. In the summer you could always add all the vegetables from the garden and to make it richer you could add the tuna, anchovies, capers and eggs.
Adding the eggs to the panzanella meant that the family was living a fairly prosperous period, because the eggs where usually sold at the market to make a little extra money for the family.
Most of the ingredients come from our family’s vegetable garden. After all these years I can still see my grandmother bending low to pick all she needed and making sure not to waist anything, these are the ingredients needed.

For 5 to 6 people,

1 lbs Italian bread ( best if a few days old),
3 or 4 chopped anchovies,
3 sliced hardboiled eggs,
10 to 12 chopped leaves of basil,
a sprinkle of capers,
3 diced ripe tomatoes,
1 sliced red fresh onion,
¼ cup chopped parsley ,
1/2 cup pitted green or black Italian olives,
1 cup of tuna in olive oil,
½ cup fresh chopped fennel,
½ cup chopped celery,
one medium size grated carrot,
1 tbs fresh thyme leaves,
1 medium chopped green pepper,
1 medium chopped zucchini,
1 tbs chopped garlic,
salt and pepper as needed
Olive oil, Balsamic vinegar as needed.

Soak the sliced bread in water or better yet in cold vegetable broth for 20 minute and squeeze out the liquid. Break it and place in big bowl adding all the other ingredients

Mix well and serve as a salad or a pasta dish.