Tomato and Bread Salad
Stale bread and tomatoes that are slightly too ripe. It is designed around both problems and it is better than either ingredient deserves.
This only works in the weeks when tomatoes are actually good. Out of season it is stale bread in weak juice, and no amount of oil rescues it.
Salt the tomatoes first and wait. The juice they give up is the dressing, and skipping that step is why most versions are dry.
Ingredients
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 1 lb | ripe tomatoes, cut into rough chunks |
| 4 cups | stale country bread, torn not cut |
| 1 | small cucumber, sliced thick |
| 1/2 | red onion, sliced thin |
| 1 handful | basil, torn at the last moment |
| 4 tbsp | olive oil |
| 1 tbsp | red wine vinegar |
| — | salt |
Method
- Chunk the tomatoes into a large bowl, salt them well, and leave them twenty minutes. Do not skip this.
- Tear the bread into pieces. Torn edges soak better than cut ones.
- Soak the onion in the vinegar with a pinch of salt while the tomatoes sit.
- Add the bread to the tomatoes and their juice, then the cucumber, onion and vinegar, and the oil.
- Toss and leave ten minutes so the bread drinks. Basil in right at the end.
Notes
- Bread with an open crumb and a real crust. Soft sandwich bread turns to mush.
- If the bread is very hard, run it briefly under the tap and squeeze it out before tearing.
- It does not keep. Make what you will eat.
Questions
Can I toast the bread instead?
You can, and it stays crunchier. It also stops being this dish and becomes a crouton salad, which is fine but different.
Anchovies?
Two, mashed into the oil. Nobody will identify them and everyone will notice.