Panzanella -- the Ultimate Summer Salad for a Crowd?

Panzanella Salad 

There's a crowd coming to my house for lunch. 

Not really. It's a "virtual" lunch, connecting my fellow kosher bloggers who live throughout the world. We are celebrating three years of friendship. Everyone will post a recipe so we can feast together, if only in our imaginations.

So, what to feed a kosher crowd?

It isn't as straightforward as you might think. The rules of kashruth are not simple. In fact, books have been written on the subject. Most people, even those who aren't Jewish and/or kosher, know the basics: no pig, no shellfish, no meat with dairy; only kosher meat, etc. etc.

But there's more to it and not everyone who is kosher follows the same rules. For example, some people only eat dairy products produced under the supervision of a Jewish person who will make sure the animals are kosher. People who are orthodox won't eat fish together with meat, whereas people who are conservative will. 

And more, too much to go into here.

That, plus all the other, nonkosher dietary stuff -- lots of folks these days are lactose intolerant or gluten intolerant. Some people don't eat meat. There are fish allergies! Nut allergies!

I want to avoid all that.

Oh myohmyohmy. 

Here's what I decided to make:

It's August and it's hot out. No one want s a heavy meal. The best food on the market now?

Tomatoes.

So my lunch is a salad built around summer's gorgeous produce. Plus a sprinkling of August's other culinary gem: fresh basil from my garden.

It's still a filling lunch, because I've added lots of vegetables to the usual bread-and-tomato salad. For the gluten-free folk there are plenty of good, crusty breads to substitute for the Tuscan-style or ciabatta called or in my recipe.

This dish has no meat, no fish, no poultry, no cheese, no dairy. Can be gluten-free. Strictly kosher. Delicious too.

Happy 3rd everyone!

Panzanella

• 1 pound crusty, 2-day old Tuscan style bread or ciabatta
• cold water
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 3 medium tomatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1/2 sweet red bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 1/2 yellow or green bell pepper, deseeded and chopped
• 1 small zucchini, chopped
• 1 cup cooked peas
• 2 tablespoons drained capers
• 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 7-8 tablespoons olive oil
• 3-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the bread into large dice and place them on a baking sheet. Bake the bread for 8-10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Remove from the oven and place the pieces in a large bowl. Let cool. Add the red onion, tomatoes, red pepper, yellow pepper, zucchini, peas, capers, basil and garlic and toss the ingredients. Mix the smaller quantities of olive oil and red wine vinegar and pour over the salad. Sprinkle with freshly ground back pepper to taste. Toss the salad and add more olive oil and/or vinegar as needed to taste. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings

More delicious Kosher Connection recipes right here

Tomato Salad with Chick Peas, Feta and Peas

You know all those people whose gardens are loaded with so many tomatoes that they can’t possibly use them all and so give them away?

I’m not one of them. Gardening is not one of my strong points. I get tomatoes from handouts from friends and at Farmer’s Markets.

Still, whether you grow them or buy them, end-of-summer tomatoes are sensational. Sweet, juicy, tasting of earth and sun. Like a real tomato.

I used some of my friends’ tomatoes in salads over the past week. We liked this one in particular.                                                                                                              

Tomato Salad with Chick Peas, Feta and Peas

• 3 large tomatoes, chopped

• 1 cup cooked chick peas (canned is fine)

• 1 cup thawed, frozen peas

• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese

• 3 thick scallions, chopped

• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

• 1/2 teaspoon zatar

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Place the tomatoes, chick peas, peas, cheese, scallions, mint and zatar in a bowl. Toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour in the olive oil and toss the ingredients again. Pour in the wine vinegar, toss and place the salad in a serving bowl. Let rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6 servings

Tomato Salad with Spices and Herbs

I’m almost there. My first home grown tomatoes in years and years. I used to plant them, but then the deer and rabbits and other wild creatures in the neighborhood would decide to have a feast of the stuff, tomatoes, leaves, flowers and all. So I stopped planting.

I decided to give it another try. A small garden only: tomatoes, basil and mint.

This year a cute brown rabbit did get to the basil, but so far the tomatoes are intact.

I moved the basil to the top of my grill where the rabbit couldn’t get to it, and that’s a pain in the neck when I want to grill something for dinner, which is often during the summer. But the basil does seem to be coming back, although not yet thriving.

If you ever have the chance to eat a fresh-picked tomatoes, do not pass it up. The fruit is sweet, juicy, natural.

It makes you feel better about the earth. 

Fresh garden tomatoes are best plain. But if you have enough, you can cut them into a summer salad:                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Tomato Salad with Spices and Herbs

3 cups halved cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon chopped chives

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut up the tomatoes and place them in a bowl. Add the chives, basil and mint and toss ingredients to distribute them evenly. Pour in the olive oil and wine vinegar and toss ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss ingredients. Let rest for about 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 4-6 servings

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Some people are lucky enough to grow tomatoes and by this time in August the vines in their gardens are hanging low with red, ripe, wonderful stuff waiting to be picked.

Some of those lucky people have so many tomatoes they don’t even know what to do with them.

I am not one of those people. As I have written, I got two measly little tomatoes from the plants I tried to grow in my backyard. 

But a friend took pity on me as she does every year. Because this happens every year. She nods her head at my pathetic little tomato patch and brings me a whole harvest from hers. I am so lucky to have her in my life (for many reasons).

I know what to do with those tomatoes too. After having my fill on sandwiches, eating them with avocados and stuffing and baking them as a side dish, I make red sauce for spaghetti.

Red sauce made with fresh tomatoes is an entirely different thing than the kind made with canned. I am not saying either is better. Just different.

See for yourself. This recipe is really easy:

Fresh Tomato Sauce

•  16-18 plum tomatoes or 8 large tomatoes

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion, chopped

• 1 large clove garlic, chopped

• 3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Heat a large pot of water. When it comes to a boil, add the tomatoes. Cook for 20 seconds. Drain the tomatoes under cold water. Pierce the tomato near the stem end with the tip of a sharp knife and pull back to remove the skin. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise and squeeze out the seeds. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and cook over medium heat for 3-4 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and cook briefly. Add the tomatoes, basil and salt and pepper to taste. Cook over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15-30 minutes, or until it has reached the desired consistency.

Makes enough for one pound of pasta (about 3 cups)

I’m good at indoor plants. Phalaenopsis love me. My Christmas Cactus flowers every year on schedule. The Ivy is thriving. I even grew new Croton from branch roots.

Outdoors? Not so much. 

Whatever I’m doing is not the right thing to do. Every year I plant tomato plants. I get one or two tomatoes at the end of the season.

Like the one in the photo (of two in my garden). 

It’s probably because I plant them too late. I buy them early but I really hate gardening so the plants sit on my kitchen counter for a couple of weeks and they are already in a sad state by the time I get them outdoors.

In any event, two green tomatoes aren’t enough for pie or chutney. And I have enough red tomatoes from someone else’s garden. So I decided to make fried green tomatoes as a side dish. Only I didn’t want to fry, so I baked them instead.

Quite yummy.

Baked Green Tomatoes

2 medium to large green tomatoes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

salt, freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder to taste

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha

1-1/2 cups Panko or corn meal

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Slice the tomatoes about 1/8-inch thick. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Add the salt, pepper and garlic powder and mix to distribute the ingredients thoroughly. Coat the tomato slices with the flour mixture. Shake off the excess. Beat the egg and Sriracha in a dish. Dip the coated slices in the beaten egg mixture, covering the slices completely. Coat the slices with the Panko or corn meal. Place the tomato slices on the cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Turn the tomatoes over and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Makes 4 servings

More tomatoes? Make Panzanella!

I’m down to the last of the end-of-summer tomatoes. Not my own of course. The deer population wiped me out too many years in a row, so I never plant vegetables anymore. I rely on the local farmer’s market and friends who are either more persistent or don’t live in the same neighborhood as the deer do.

With my last precious few tomatoes (unless I can get some this week) I’m making Panzanella, a homemade tomato soup. It’s actually bread with tomato soup, and is very thick, almost salad-like. Also filling.

There’s a cheese-free version of this recipe in my book, Hip Kosher, but sometimes I serve it chock full of freshly grated Parmesan cheese along with some fresh basil, also from the garden. It’s hearty and filling. Great before a grilled fish or vegetarian dinner.

Bread and Tomato Soup with Cheese

10 ounce ciabatta, Tuscan or other crusty day-old bread

6 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

6 large beefsteak tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

6 cups vegetable stock

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Toast the bread lightly or bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 4-6 minutes or until firm and lightly crispy. Cut the bread into pieces and set aside. Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes or until softened. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the bread and toss the pieces around the pan. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, tossing the ingredients frequently. Add the basil and stock. Bring the soup to a simmer. Cook for about 25-30 minutes or until the bread has absorbed most of the liquid. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese on top, stir and serve topped with more Parmesan cheese if desired. Makes 4-6 servings

September Fresh Tomato Sauce

Anyone else feel that yesterday it was summer but the word September changes everything?

It’s hot and muggy. The hottest summer on record around here. And yet all of a sudden turning the page in the calendar makes me feel as if the season is over.

When I hear “September” I think back-to-school. I remember being a kid and buying new black and white notebooks and loving the feeling of writing on the thick right hand side. I hope I liked my teacher. I got new shoes. Thick sweaters that I wouldn’t wear for months.

When I hear “September” I know the food is about to change too. Purple prune plums for pie and poaching rather than the hard, sour red ones that refresh so well on a hot day. Tomatoes past their prime for eating, but perfect for sauce. The last of summer’s green tomatoes firm and bright and ready for frying. Huge zucchini, the last remnants of someone’s garden. My basil and mint are starting to decline. The dill has withered. The rosemary has seen better days.

September means it’s time to get the best of late summer produce and use up what’s left of my herbs. I just got back from our local Farmer’s Market with a load of stuff. After I finish this note the first thing I’m going to cook is tomato sauce, eat some with dinner and pack the rest into the freezer to keep summer alive later.

September Fresh Tomato Sauce

2 pounds tomatoes

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, peeled and chopped

1 large clove garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the tomatoes, cook for 20 seconds, then drain the tomatoes under cold water. Pierce the tomatoes near the stem end with the tip of a small, sharp knife, then peel back to remove the skin. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise and squeeze each half to remove the seeds. Chop the tomatoes and set them aside. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until slightly softened. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes and basil and sprinkle the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15-30 minutes or until it reaches the desired texture. Makes enough for one pound of pasta.

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