Green Panzanella
A delicious Tuscan seasonal salad. Enjoy your favourite green veggies with style in this fresh panzanella!
This effortlessly simple salad is the perfect combination of crisp lightly blanched seasonal greens, fresh herbs, tangy lime and yoghurt dressing and extra crispy virgin olive oil doused croutons. Needing just 13 ingredients and 25 minutes to come together it’s a great light lunch or dinner option, and best enjoyed outside with a glass of chilled white wine. The greens below are a suggestion, so feel free to mix and match the ingredients to whatever is in season. Petit pois peas, green beans and avocado also work really well here.
If you want to meal prep this dish for weekday lunches, simply leave the dressing to one side until ready to serve, and cook the croutons in a low oven (about 170C) until golden and crispy, which will keep them crispy and prevent them going stale.
If you try this recipe, let us know how it goes! Leave a comment, rate it, and don’t forget to tag your photo #theculinarycartel on Instagram so we can see what you come up with. Happy cooking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use other green vegetables in my salad base?
Sure. You can replace the greens used here for petit pois, fine green beans and regular broccoli cut into florets.
Green Panzanella
- Total Time: 25 Minutes
- Yield: 2 - 3 Servings
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
A delicious Tuscan seasonal salad. Enjoy your favourite green veggies with style in this fresh panzanella!
Ingredients
- 180g broccoli or tenderstem broccoli
- 1 ear of corn
- 100g asparagus
- 40g fresh herbs (I used a mix of mint, coriander and dill) or baby salad leaves
- 80g sugarsnap peas
- 1 small cucumber or 1/3 of an English cucumber
- 100g sourdough bread (about 2 thick slices), torn into bite-sized chunks
- 100g feta, cut into cubes
- oil-salt-pepper as needed
Dressing
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup greek style plain yoghurt
- 2 Tbsp French Style mayonnaise
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- To prepare the salad greens place a pot of water on high heat, and bring it to a boil. To the water, add salt to taste until it tastes like seawater. Prepare a bowl of cold water for your greens and add a few blocks of ice.
- Cut your ear of corn in half and place it into the boiling water for 5 minutes. While your corn cooks, cut your broccoli and asparagus into bite-sized pieces at an angle. Thinly slice your snap peas at an angle. Pick your herbs from any tough stems and place them into a bowl with the sliced snap peas.
- Grate the garlic for the dressing into a small bowl. Zest the lemon and add the zest to the garlic. Squeeze 20ml of lemon juice over the garlic and zest and set it aside (the acid in the lemon will mellow out the raw garlic).
- Remove your corn from the water and set it aside.
- Toss your torn sourdough with a pinch of salt, pepper and 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Place a large frying pan over medium heat, and immediately add the sourdough. Make a small space and add the corn. Cook the corn and croutons on medium, tossing and turning now and then until the corn is lightly charred in spots, and the croutons are golden and crispy.
- Keep an eye on the croutons and proceed with your veggies. Drop your broccoli/tenderstem into the boiling water and blanch for 2 minutes, until just softening, but maintaining some crunch. Remove the broccoli with a slotted spoon and drop it into the cold water to stop the cooking. Repeat this process with the asparagus, cooking it for between 1-2 minutes, depending on the thickness of the spears, until they are bright green and just starting to soften to al dente. Drop the asparagus into the cold water with the broccoli, then drain the greens and set aside.
- Remove the croutons and corn from the pan if you haven’t already. Cut the kernels from the corn and add them to the blanched greens. Slice the cucumber in half lengthways, then place the cucumber cut-side down on a chopping board. Using the flat side of a knife or wooden spoon, smash/smack the cucumber until it splits, then chop into bite-sized chunks.
- Finish the dressing by adding the garlic and lemon to the yoghurt, and mixing in the mayonnaise. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Toss the blanched greens, herbs, cucumber, snap peas, corn and feta together with half the dressing and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Divide the salad between serving bowls, and dot with croutons. Serve immediately with the dressing on the side, to add more to your preference.
- Category: Salad
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 381.51kcal
- Sugar: 8.57g
- Sodium: 840.42mg
- Fat: 22.3g
- Saturated Fat: 7.86g
- Unsaturated Fat: 13.11g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 32.04g
- Fiber: 4.06g
- Protein: 16.08g
- Cholesterol: 34.97mg
