Ingredients (variable)

• Slices of bread: choose a rustic type of bread (possibly including some whole-wheat flour, maybe baked in a wood-fired oven), one or two days old
• Ripe, tasty tomatoes, preferably organic
• Fine sea salt
• Fresh basil leaves, slivered
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar

Instructions

The actual amount is based on number of people to be served, size of the bread and of the tomatoes and personal preference. The recipe provides guidelines. The photos show a panzanella lunch for my husband, for which I cut four slices from a small loaf of whole-wheat sourdough bread and used a large tomato.

Place each bread slice under a thin stream of cold water from the faucet and turn it to make the water hit the crust all around. The bread should become moist, not soaked. Distribute the slices on one or more plates.

Wash the tomatoes and cut them in half crosswise. Drain any water from under the bread slices. Rub a tomato half over a slice or two of bread and squeeze at the same time, so the bread absorbs the tomato juice. The photo below shows you what the panzanella looks like at the end of this step.

Cut the squeezed tomato halves into 1-inch / 2.5 cm pieces and distribute them in an even layer on the bread slices. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt on them and some of the basil. Finally, season with a thread of olive oil and “a suspicion of vinegar” (borrowing a befitting expression from Sicilian writer Andrea Camilleri2).

Bring the plates to the table. No silverware needed: just use your hands.

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