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Happy Summer Season!
Panzanella Salad
As the weather warms up, just the thing, this delicious Tuscan Salad. Easy to make and fresh and summery.Time to be out of doors and cooking things that are quick and easy.
Easy
Serves 2-4 Persons
Ingredients
2 summer tomatoes chopped into cubes
Half a large cucumber peeled and cubed
1 small onion
Ten large basil leaves or more!
1 Large home-meal rusk broken up
2 tabs capers
Small bunch of Purslane/ Glistrida, optional
Dressing
4 tbs Olive Oil
2 tbs wine vinegar
1 tbs ‘Dijon’ mustard
1 tsp salt or more
Freshly ground black pepper
1 small fresh chilli finely diced, seeds removed, optional
Method
1. Wash tomatoes and cut up into 1 cm cubes. I leave the skins on, but this is up to you.
2. Peel cucumber and cut into 1 cm cubes.
3. Peel and dice onions. Add capers, which you have previously rinsed.(Place in small sieve and rinse under the running tap.
4. Combine the above in suitable salad bowl.
5. Make up your dressing.
6. Just before serving, pour off any excess water from the tomatoes gathered in the bottom of your bowl. Break up your rusk into mouth sized pieces, with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle the broken up rusk over the top of the salad.
7. Tear your basil leaves and place over salad.
8. Just before serving drizzle over dressing and toss salad well.
Eat straight away. The rusk should be still crunchy. ( If left it will go soft and not be so good!)
N.B. Tear basil leaves at the last minute, or they discolour. You can prepare this salad up to 1/2 hour before hand, but add rusk and dressing just before serving. Cover and reserve in refrigerator. When ready to serve, pour off any liquid from the tomatoes, which has accumulated in the bottom of your bowl. This is important, so that the water from the tomatoes, does not dilute the dressing.
***Dijon mustard is by far the best for making a salad dressing, as is always used in the French Vinaigrette. If you use another mustard, perhaps use less, as some mustards have a much stronger taste, this particularly applies to the Greek ‘Ekma’ mustard.
Chop tomatoes, peeled cucumber and onion into cubes of 1 cm. Add rinsed capers. Place in suitable salad bowl.
Make up your dressing, I add ‘Dijon’ mustard as it makes it more tasty.
Place whole-meal rusk in bowl……
Break up with wooden spoon handle, into mouth sized pieces.
When ready to serve,(not before or rusk softens), sprinkle broken up rusk over salad, together with torn basil leaves.
Drizzle dressing over the top of your salad.
Mix thoroughly.
Ready to eat!
Delicious.
Moroccan Preserved Lemons ©
Lemons, Lemons and more Lemons!
Lemons are a wonderful fruit, both in taste, color and shape. They evoke a sense of freshness, cleanliness, and are a truly Mediterranean fruit. In the more northern climbs, they can only be grown in a Conservatory and you will often see them grown in pots in England, where they are the pride and joy of the household. Here in Greece, they grow in fields in abundance and you can buy them cheaply by the kilo! Lemons are an essential part of flavoring in cooking.
I have been wanting to make these wonderful Moroccan Preserved Lemons for a long time, but some how never got around to it!
What inspired me, was the most delicious ‘Moroccan Chicken Green Olive and Preserved Lemon Tagine,’ made for me, by one of my former students, a couple of weeks ago and it was so good, I finally made up a couple of jars, so that I could make a few favorite Moroccan recipes during the summer.
They are dead easy to make and take a month in a sealed jar, to be ready for use.
Thank you Claire!
Easy
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
12 Lemons ( 6 for preserving, 6 for lemon juice )
12 tbs Coarse Salt ( Hondro Alati)
Enough lemon juice to fill your jar
Special Equipment
Preserving jar
Method
1. Choose unwaxed lemons, all around the same size.Wash and scrub lemons thoroughly.
2. Choose a wide jar with a ‘plastic lined top,’ so that there is no risk of the top rusting from the salt.( Otherwise line lid with double layer of grease-proof paper. Place large preserving jar in a saucepan and completely cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and boil for five minutes to sterilize jar.This is important!
3. Stand lemons ‘stalk end’ downwards and cut down into four quarters, just stopping short of the bottom, so that the quarters are held together. Standing your lemon on a plate, spoon into the center of each lemon, two heaped table spoons of coarse salt.
4. Pressing your lemons tightly shut, lower them into your jar and pack as tightly as possible. It takes a little trial and error, but ideally you want three to four lemons to fit tightly into your jar and then repeat a second layer, which will fill the jar to the rim, so there is not a lot of free space for air.
5. Place lid on tightly and I put mine in the fridge for four days.( The placing in the fridge is not necessary, but as it is already hot here, I wanted to be sure of success.) During this time the lemons soften a little and their juices begin to come out.
6. After four days, open the jar and fill it to the top with lemon juice, so that the lemons are completely covered. As they tend to rise to the top when you add the lemon juice, having shrunk a little, I added a squeezed lemon half on top so that when I closed my lid the lemon half pushed the rest of the preserved lemons under the lemon juice!
7. Your lemons will be ready to use after one month. To use, remove the amount of preserved lemon required, scrape away the inside and rinse under running water to remove saltiness. Finely slice the peel and add to your Moroccan recipe.
These preserved lemons add a beautiful delicate taste to Moroccan cooking and any where else you choose to add them.
* If when opening your jar there is a little ‘white mold’ on the surface, this is nothing, like when you open marmalade, just remove it with a spoon. If the lemons are well under the lemon juice and the jar is filled to the top, this usually doesn’t happen.
Sterilizing Jars: Place preserving jar in saucepan and completely cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and boil for five minutes.
Choose evenly sized lemons which are not ‘waxed,’ wash and scrub with a brush.
Stalk end downwards, cut lemons into quarters, cutting through just short of the bottom, so that the lemons quarters are held together.
Once jar is ready, using suitable tongs, pour out water carefully, from the inside of your jar and leave on drainer to cool.
Place lemon quarters on plate.
Fill each lemon with two heaped tablespoons of salt.
Beautiful Lemons!
Pack lemons into your jar as tightly as possible and sprinkle some salt finally over the top. As you can see the lemons come up
to the top of my jar. This is always important when preserving, so as to leave as little air in the jar as possible.
Place in refrigerator for four days, you will note the lemon juice is already coming out of the lemons, due to the salt.
After four days, remove lid and fill jar up completely with lemon juice. Replace lid tightly and return to fridge for a month.
Your lemons will then be ready. Remove the quantity you need, scrape away the soft inside, rinse well to remove saltiness and slice lemon peel finely.
These preserved lemons are a wonderful addition to any dish, especially Moroccan recipes and give a very delicate flavor.
What's Cooking In Jane's Kitchen 