If you are saying “what the ____ is a panzanella”, then you, my friend, are not alone. Only because some of my favorite food blogs had attempted similar dishes in the past was I aware of what to expect from this Recipe of the Day from Epicurious. Basically panzanella is an Italian style salad with croutons and no lettuce. I’ve seen veggie only panzanellas, one with beans and sausage and this one with light and healthy salmon. This is a great quick and healthful meal that I would make again in a heartbeat. It’s also a great recipe to mess around with if you don’t like certain ingredients, just swap them out!
Before we go ahead with the recipe, a few notes on the carbs. 1. This recipe called for a whole wheat baguette. If you can find one of those, more power to you. I checked 3 different bakeries/markets and had to settle for a small white baguette. 2. This recipe also called for mixing in the bread chunks to the salad plain and uncooked. I had seen other recipes with homemade croutons, so I decided to go that route because I like the crunch and we can always keep the extras for use on salads. 3. You could totally leave out the croutons and this would still be a delicious and filling meal.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did- it’s so perfect for a rainy summer evening when you don’t want to grill, but you also don’t want your oven on for an hour.
Salmon Panzanella with green beans – adapted from Epicurious
Ingredients:
Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 pound salmon fillet, skin removed (I had them do this at the market when I got the fish- so much easier than trying to cut the skin off at home)
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1/2 pound green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teasoon red wine vinegar
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup thinly sliced red onion
I small baguette, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 cup fresh basil, cut into thin strips
Preheat oven to 350. Toss bread cubes with 2 TB olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay cubes on baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, stirring them around once or twice. Remove from oven and let cool.
Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan; cook beans until bright green and crisp-tender, about 3 minutes; drain and set aside. Heat broiler to low. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray (or use the same sheet that you used for the croutons- it should still have enough oil on it that you won’t need any spray). Season salmon with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Broil until cooked through, 5-8 minutes per side; let cool (for whatever reason, my salmon took a few minutes per side longer than the recommended 5 minutes. Thick piece of fish? Oven not hot enough? Who knows…). Whisk oil, vinegar, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a serving bowl; add beans, tomatoes, onion, and basil, then toss. Flake salmon and add to salad; toss gently. Let sit 10 minutes before serving. Add croutons on top of each serving (that way they won’t get soggy hanging out in the salad and you can keep them crisp for leftovers).
For Nana 