The panzanella recipe? We asked a Tuscan shop in Rome
Pietro Accolti Gil of Le Crete Ristoro Toscano explains his panzanella recipe with stale bread, San Marzano tomatoes, cucumbers, Tropea onions, basil, and a personal touch: capers.
With the heat, there's a dish that regularly returns to the table: panzanella. A Tuscan peasant recipe born to repurpose stale bread and transform it, with a few garden ingredients, into one of the symbols of summer. In Rome, Pietro Accolti Gil, host and chef at Le Crete Ristoro Toscano, the shop on Via dei Monti di Creta that for over two years has been bringing traditional Sienese and Tuscan flavors and recipes to the neighborhood, also prepares it.
The panzanella recipe from Le Crete, a Tuscan dish in Rome
Anyone who knows Pietro knows that his cooking follows the seasons and family recipes. After describing his pappa al pomodoro (you can find the full story here), this time we asked him how he makes panzanella, with a little personal detail.
Ingredients:
- stale, unsalted Tuscan bread (at least two days old)
- San Marzano tomatoes
- cucumbers
- Tropea onion
- fresh basil
- vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
- sale
- capers
The procedure
We start with the bread, strictly unsalted and stale. It should be cut into fairly coarse pieces, without removing the crust, then soaked in water and vinegar and left to soften long enough for it to absorb the liquid without falling apart too much.
Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. The San Marzano tomatoes, chosen for their firmness and flavor, and the cucumbers are cut into fairly large pieces and immediately seasoned with oil and salt. The Tropea onion, on the other hand, is chopped by hand, separating the rings.
At this point, everything is combined with the bread, along with a generous amount of basil torn by hand to preserve its aroma. Mix first with a spoon, then add more extra virgin olive oil and continue kneading directly by hand.
Only at the end do the capers arrive, Pietro's little personal touch—"My father likes them," he says—which add a savory note without overpowering the rest of the ingredients. The final touch is a drizzle of vinegar, before letting the panzanella rest for about an hour and then serving.
Le Crete Ristoro Toscano. Via dei Monti di Creta 91, Rome. Tel. 334 7374092. Instagram.
