Roasted Fennel Panzanella

Another one by Wonderwife. Check the comments for the recipe.

Comments

[wonderwife]

Let me begin with a name disclaimer. This isn’t exactly panzanella, a Tuscan side dish made with chopped stale bread that is brought back to life after a quick soak in some water, and then tossed with tomato, basil and some olive oil; its also not really bruschetta, which, at its most basic, is charcoal-toasted bread slices that are rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil. Both of these are authentic Tuscan dishes, and my creation is some sort bastardization of the two. But it’s a delicious bastard. *

Enough editorializing, here’s the low-down: the “panzanella” is made by layering a bunch of grilled items on a platter, a composed salad of sorts. First layer is the bread, which is sliced and grilled ‘til it has a little char to it. Then top with grilled tomatoes. I usually use small, cherry ones that we cook on a skewer to avoid between-the-grate casualties. Then, the last grilled layer is fennel, which has been grilled on direct and indirect heat, so that it has a nice char but has also had the chance to soften and caramelize a bit. Then scatter with a handful of halved olives—I like the black shriveled air-dried kind for this, but Kalamatas work just fine as well. Finish with some torn basil, coarse salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and good, aged balsamic. Especially delicious with salmon, which you can also cook on the grill (no dishes, yay!). If you are concerned about too much grill dominated flavor, the fennel can be sautéed stovetop and the bread can be toasted in a toaster, but do be sure to grill the tomatoes. In my humble, non-biased, amateur opinion, that is a must for the dish.

*Dario, Bill Buford’s Dante-quoting Tuscan butcher who stars in his fine book “Heat,” is known to rattle on and on about authentic Tuscan cooking when it comes to items like Bistecca Fiorentina, the Tuscans being the real Italians, etc etc. However—spoiler alert!—upon finding out later in the book that his beef comes from, gasp, SPAIN, I felt emboldened to take license with tradition. So conventions be damned, my dish remains panzanella.