Panzanella with a Spanish touch - perfect for the weekend

I remember the first time I made panzanella at home: it was a revelation. Who could have thought that a salad made with stale bread would be so delicious? The Italians, of course. :)

As much as I love Italian food – half of the blood in my veins is Italian, after all – I have added a couple of Spanish touches to my panzanella: crispy chorizo, chickpeas, sherry vinegar in the dressing. The salad turned out wonderful and it is a beautiful idea for lunch or dinner in the really hot days we have been having in Sao Paulo (to make it even fresher, add 1 thinly sliced small Japanese cucumber sliced to the salad). It is also great for lazy weekends, like the one I plan to have. :)

Panzanella with a Spanish touch
own recipe

½ red onion, peeled and cut in half
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
2 cups stale bread cubes (approximately 2cm each cube)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided use
2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
100g chorizo, chopped in small cubes
¾ cup (127g) cooked and drained chickpeas
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh basil leaves

Thinly slice the onion, transfer to a small bowl and drizzle with the vinegar. Set aside for 15 minutes or until you get the other parts of the salad done.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a medium baking sheet with baking paper or foil. Spread the bread cubes over the paper/foil and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Bake for about 8 minutes or until bread is crispy and golden. Remove from the oven and set aside.
In the meantime, heat a nonstick frying pan over high heat. Add the chorizo and cook, stirring now and then, until crispy. Drain the chorizo over paper towels.

Transfer bread, chorizo, tomatoes and chickpeas to ta large bowl. Drain the onion (save the vinegar for the dressing) and stir into the salad. To the bowl with the vinegar, add the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, mustard, salt and pepper and whisk well. Pour over the salad, toss to combine and set aside for 30 minutes. Stir in the basil leaves and serve.

Serves 2

Tomato, red onion and gorgonzola salad - simple and delicious

Ok, I’ll admit it: this is not a very romantic salad – all that raw garlic and onion (not to mention the gorgonzola!) won’t do your breath any good. But it is so simple – I put it together in a matter of moments – fresh and delicious, and it comes from such an amazing book, that I had to share it with you – even if, in the end, you make it for a solitary lunch/dinner (or some “me time”, as I like to call it). To wrap things up beautifully, a bowl of ice cream, the couch and one of those movies you have seen several times but make you cry your eyes out every single time. :)

My husband loved this dressing so much that he drizzled some over his steak and used it for dipping his fries, too. :)

Tomato, red onion and gorgonzola salad
slightly adapted from the fantastic Sunday Suppers at Lucques

Dressing:
1 ½ tablespoons marjoram leaves, packed + a few extra leaves for decorating
1 clove garlic
¼ teaspoon Maldon sea salt or fleur de sel, or 1/8 teaspoon regular table salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salad:
1 large red onion
4-5 ripe tomatoes
200g (7oz) cherry tomatoes
80g (3oz) gorgonzola cheese, coarsely crumbled

Pound the marjoram, garlic and salt in a mortar to a paste. Add the pepper, olive oil and lemon juice and mix to combine. Set aside.
Soak the onion rings in ice water for 5 minutes to mellow their strong flavor. In the meantime, quarter the tomatoes and arrange them on a plate. Halve some of the cherry tomatoes and arrange them all on the plate, too. Tuck in the gorgonzola pieces. Drain the onion slices and pat them dry with paper towels. Add them to the plate. Drizzle the salad with the dressing, sprikle with the extra marjoram leaves and serve.

Serves 2

Chickpea, tomato, lemon and mint salad

Another year, another Carnival ... and another salad – savory, this time – after tons of food and booze. :)

Again, mint is the refreshing agent around here – I never knew it would go so well with tomatoes. Just delicious.

Chickpea, tomato, lemon and mint salad
from The Commonsense Kitchen

1 tablespoon olive oil
½ red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt
2 cups cooked chickpeas, well drained
2 cups diced ripe red tomatoes, seeds removed
juice and finely grated zest of ½ lemon
pinch of hot red pepper flakes
½ cup loosely packed mint leaves, coarsely chopped – set aside a few whole leaves for decoration
¼ cup coarsely chopped parsley
freshly ground black pepper
extra-virgin olive oil

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic with a little salt and sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the chickpeas and cook until they are dry. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Before serving, gently toss in the tomatoes, lemon zest and juice, pepper flakes, mint, parsley, and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and serve.

Serves 2-4