Chris said:"Bob (this one)" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
Quoted message said:A version of a salad that my grandparents used to make has me lining
the salad bowl with slices of bread. Just lay them around, one layer
thick, on the inside of the bowl as though you were tiling it. Toss
the other ingredients in a different bowl, dress them with about half
the dressing, dump them in on top of the bread and pour the remaining
dressing over top. Let it sit for a few minutes for it to soak into
the bread. Eat. I guarantee you'll be astonished. And I guarantee Mrs.
Ranger will drag you off and have your way with you. Sure thing. Maybe
several times if you're up to it.
Oh, my. I'll have what they're having!
Bob, would that be day-old peasant bread, as opposed to fresh?
Italian or French baguette is my preference, but I've made it with other
breads and it was wonderful. I wrote a piece about the salad, I'll hang
it off the end of this post.
Quoted message said:And Bob, in the carrot salad, Italian parsley is specified. What
exactly is the flavor difference between curly parsley and the flat
Italian stuff? (I know I can google this, but Bob, you've done such an
excellent job convincing me to try this recipe that I'd love to hear
your thoughts on parsley). We have a ton of curly parsley growing in a
pot; would this salad be a good way to use it up? If not, any
suggestions?
Flat-leaf parsley has a - hard to characterize - more round flavor. A
fuller flavor. The curly-leaf is sharper, not as big a flavor profile. I
wouldn't use it as the parsley in this salad. I make a creamed parsley
as a veggie. Sometimes add some spinach or different lettuces, shredded.
Saute the leaves (figure a packed cup per person) and a couple smashed
and minced shallots or green onions in four tablespoons butter and two
tablespoons oil until wilted. Add a cup of cream, bring to a hard boil
and reduce until it coats the back of a spoon. Serve with poultry or
pork. Can even be used as a topping for the broiled or grilled meats.
Garnish with a grating of nutmeg.
Or make a parsley soup. Google will probably turn up a bunch of them. I
like parsley added to most pureed soups.
Quoted message said:My thoughts on why Jacques sliced the bread straight across: did he
pile the salad on top of it? If so, then slicing the bread straight
across makes sense to me because you'd want all the dressing/juices to
sop straight down into the bread. The dressing/juices wouldn't sop so
well diagonally. (It bothers me to see a bread-basket with
straight-across cut bread, though...not sure why!!).
He's probably being deliberately subversive. Knows it makes you crazy
and does it deliberately.
Pastorio
---------------------
Slice off some salad
Here’s a new word for you: Panzanella. It’s a funny kind of Italian
dish and shows just how basic and close to the earth the best of the
Italian cuisines are. Bear with me for a minute here and we’ll get to a
dish that’s more a method than just one thing.
If you consider that there are no super-star Italian chefs, you begin
to understand what the Italian kitchen is really about. Italian cooking,
from all the regions of Italy share a single essential philosophical
vision. It’s all home-cooking, even when you get it in restaurants.
There’s even a word to describe it: casalinga. It doesn’t really
translate cleanly, but it means home-cooking, sort of.
So what is this panzanella and why is it so special? In a minute.
Italian cuisines are also frugal. It’s home-cooking and, in several
senses, we could describe it as peasant cuisine or country cooking.
Peasants are frugal. My grandparents were peasants (and I say that with
no embarrassment. They were people of the earth.) and were like rural
people from all over the world. Not much food was ever thrown away.
Bread is central to the Italian table - good crusty bread with a
delicately white center. So are fresh vegetables. Vinegar. Oil. Herbs.
Tomatoes. Let’s look at a very simple beginning and then we’ll talk
about complicating it. You have to understand that there’s no real
recipe for this. Change the balance of ingredients to suit yourself.
And, by the way, this is wonderful picnic food.
It won’t work as well with American-style supermarket bread. That
becomes soggy much too quickly. Stale Italian bread will retain some
good texture even though moistened. Stale Italian bread will retain some
good texture even though moistened. Maybe half-inch or
three-quarter-inch thick slices.
I adapted this from what my grandparents originally did back in the
40's and early 50's. They tore up the bread and mixed it into the salad
as just another ingredient. In the ‘80's, in one of my restaurants, I
was looking for something dramatic to serve for lunch. I came up with
this adaptation of Nonna Pastorio’s salad.
BASIC PASTORIO PANZANELLA
Serves somewhere between 4 and 8 people
a loaf of stale Italian bread, cut into thin slices (maybe 20 slices)
a couple ripe tomatoes, sliced
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 medium cucumber, peeled and sliced
1 cup cheese, sliced or shredded (fresh mozzarella, cheddar, feta
and/or blue)
2 ribs celery, coarsely chopped
1 head of butter lettuce, shredded (or Boston, red leaf or anything
except iceberg)
10 or 12 fresh basil leaves
a few sprigs of thyme
3 to 5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Lay out bread slices to form a single layer in the bottom of a rounded
bowl. Top that with slices of tomato. Then onion and cucumber. Scatter
some celery around. Scatter some lettuce. Cheese. Trickle a little
vinegar and oil over top. Add a layer of bread slices. Scatter basil and
thyme leaves. Add tomatoes and finish with as many layers as the
materials permit. Trickle remaining vinegar over top. Cover with plastic
wrap and press down to compress the salad. A plate or small tray is
good. Put a weight on it and let it sit for an hour or so. Invert out
onto a platter or tray, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and cut
into wedges. Serve with a fresh fruit garnish on a lettuce leaf.
A simplified version could be done by simply cutting all the
ingredients into even-sized cubes. It doesn’t look anywhere near as
pretty, but it eats well enough. Put everything in a large bowl and
toss. Let sit for about a half hour. Taste and see if it needs anything.
Maybe more vinegar or more oil or a grating of pepper. Tip: if it’s not
moist enough to suit you, add a bit of tomato juice.
That’s all there is to the basic salad. Let’s look at variations that
change the final effect but still preserve the same rustic spirit.
The Bread: I’m seeing ciabatta in some stores now. It’s a bread that is
described as resembling a slipper - a ciabatta - but I confess I don’t
see slippers when I look at the bread. I see a long, flattened,
great-tasting loaf of Italian bread. This works beautifully. French
breads will work well, too.
Cut it into cubes. Or, tear it roughly into chunks for a different
visual approach. Strips. Thin slices.
Some people make croutons for this salad out of the breads they choose.
Either of two ways: cut the bread into cubes and toss it with melted
butter or olive oil to which you add a bit of seasoning. Basil, garlic,
oregano, thyme, maybe. Spread out on a tray and bake at 350 until
lightly browned. Way number two: Cut into cubes and deep fry in 365 (or
so) oil just until lightly browned. Let them cool and continue as in the
recipe above.
Tomatoes: Use the ripest, juiciest ones you can find. Roma and other
plum tomatoes don’t have enough juice for my tastes. Mix the varieties.
A good red one and a pretty yellow or orange one look nice together and
offer different flavors.
Things to add: bell peppers, chopped or sliced - mix the colors for eye
appeal. Fresh zucchini strips - just a few. Hot peppers for the
venturesome. Olives - black, green or any combination of them. Mixed
pickled vegetables - like the Italian “giardiniera” that’s in the
supermarkets. A tablespoon of capers to give that marvelous
salty-vinegary-herbal flavor. Shredded cheeses - Monterey jack, cheddar
or fancier, creamier ones - gorgonzola.
You can dress it up with some more substantial things. Add a can of
good, oil-packed tuna that you’ve partially drained. Better yet would be
to add some cold fish left over from dinner. Shrimp, scallops, leftover
lobster. That last was a joke. Who ever heard of leftover lobster?
Chicken strips from last night’s roast chicken. Or from last night’s
fried chicken. The breading will change the basic flavor of the salad
and it will sing with the new seasonings.
Strips of roast beef or venison. Shreds of a baked pork tenderloin.
Left over lamb chunks. I’m going to whisper this so the purists don’t
hear it - pepperoni, salami, any kind of well-seasoned, cooked (or
preserved) meats like that.
This isn’t traditional, but it’s still in the spirit, don’t you think?
And, oh, it’s pronounced pahn-zah-nel-lah. Dazzle your friends with the
word and even more with the dish. Buon appetito, as they say in Italy.
