Vegan Spring Panzanella
Today an Italian classic finds its way into our kitchen: bread salad or Panzanella! If you think of a bone-dry salad consisting entirely of bread, guess again because bread salad (even if it is a bit confusing) is made of bread and salad. However, the bread is not added just like that. We first fry it in a pan until crispy. So Panzanella a smart choice not only if you want to prepare a salad for picnics, barbecues, or as a dinner on the balcony, but also if you have leftover bread from the day before.
Panzanella, the Italian bread salad, initially originates from Tuscany. It was a "poor people's food" because old bread could be processed. Today, however, the salad is popular again - also at home! In winter, we do think of many ideas on how to process stale bread (dumplings, dumplings, dumplings), which is why the concept of hiding bread in a salad is a clever one for summer. We intentionally skipped veggies like tomatoes and cucumbers in our recipe so that you can prepare it in spring as well. Of course, in summer, you can also add them and load the salad with various ingredients, depending on the season and your liking. The combination of sun-dried tomatoes, olives, arugula, vegan feta, and grapes is fabulous. We can only recommend it to you!
We sautéed the bread cubes with the "Olive Oil, extra virgin – mild" from Byodo. It is gently cold-pressed from 100% organic olives and has a light fruity flavor. Byodo is a natural food company from Upper Bavaria, which produces only organic way and pays attention to sustainable action and environmentally conscious production of their products. By the way, for the dressing, we used not only the extra virgin olive oil mild, but also the Apple Balsam, which is made from organic apple cider vinegar and apple juice concentrate, and the Premium Sea Salt with Herbs, which is made from 100% organic herbs and pure sea salt. By the way, only old apple varieties from meadow orchards in Baden Württemberg are used for the apple cider vinegar and the apple juice concentrate in the apple balsam. You can find Byodo's products in organic markets and their own online store.
Vegan Spring Panzanella
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 125 g (0.25 oz) arugula
- 100 g (3.5 oz) olives (drained weight)
- 150g (5.25 oz) dried tomatoes (drained weight)
- 1 red onion
- 200 g (7 oz) green and red grapes
- 150 g (5.25 oz) vegan feta cheese (drained weight, optional)
- 50g (1.75 oz) pine nuts
- 5 g (0.15 oz) basil
For the crispy bread:
- 1 ciabatta bread (or baguette)
- 50 - 100 ml (0.25 - 0.5 cup) extra virgin olive oil mild (e.g. from Byodo)
- 1 garlic clove
For the dressing:
- 25 ml (2 tbsp) apple balsam (e.g. from Byodo)
- 75 ml (0.33 cup) extra virgin olive oil mild (e.g. from Byodo)
- 5 g (1 tsp) agave syrup
- 1 pinch of sea salt with herbs (e.g. from Byodo)
- pepper
Instructions
First, prepare all ingredients for your salad: wash arugula and chop olives and dried tomatoes. Peel, halve, and slice the onion and wash and halve grapes. Transfer all ingredients to a bowl and mix. Optional, crumble vegan feta cheese with your hands.
For the dressing, add apple balsamic, virgin olive oil, agave syrup, sea salt with herbs, and pepper to a small bowl and blend to combine until you get a creamy dressing.
For the crispy bread, cut the loaf into bite-sized chunks. Toast pine nuts in a fat-free frying pan, then transfer them to a small bowl. Set the frying pan back over medium heat and add olive oil. Add bread chunks and fry for approx. 4-5 minutes, or until crispy and browned from all sides. After approx. 3-4 minutes, add a clove of garlic using a garlic press or a fine grater. Do not sauteé the garlic for more than 2 minutes, or it will become bitter. Add more olive oil if needed. Once the bread chunks are crispy from all sides, remove from heat.
Add the dressing to the salad and mix well. Serve with fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, bread cubes, and vegan feta cheese (if desired).
