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Sun-Dried Tomato Salad, Panzanella-Style

Written by Danielle Oteri

I lived my most formative years entirely in the 1990s.

Puberty, the high school pep rally I attended the same day I first saw the video for Nirvana’s “Smells like Teen Spirit,” college dorms, my first job, and the ultimate marker of adulthood: my own piece of hand-me-down Ikea furniture. . . .

These were all under my belt before Y2K failed to crash and burn. I went from a little kid to a grownup in one decade, from Pop Rocks to sun-dried tomatoes.

sun-dried tomato salad with fennel, arugula, onion and bread cubes
Photo: Casey Barber

My early adulthood was marked by my growing awareness of what was tasteful and mature, even if I had to fake it for a while. Like saying that my favorite band was Pearl Jam, even if Paula Abdul was more likely to be found in my CD Walkman.

My most sophisticated college friend, a girl who drank Brita-filtered water from blue wine glasses with yellow suns and moons on them, adored sun-dried tomatoes and so I did too.

Sun-dried tomatoes in the Nineties were very much “in” and turned up everywhere from California Pizza Kitchen to Le Cirque.

sun-dried tomato salad with fennel, arugula, onion and bread cubes
Photo: Casey Barber

Later in the new millennium, sun-dried tomatoes slowly disappeared from the inside of every sandwich, because in truth, they were often overused, misplaced, and sometimes disgusting.

I spotted a plastic box of them recently at Manhattan Fruit Exchange and could instantly recall their sour, chewy and pungent taste in my mouth.

But I bought them anyway, partly out of nostalgia, but also because I wanted to reconsider them.

sun-dried tomato salad with fennel, arugula, onion and bread cubes
Photo: Casey Barber

I searched the Talisman cookbook and The Silver Spoon, both venerable sources for classic Italian cuisine, and didn’t find even a mention of sun-dried tomatoes.

Further searching in some of my favorite Italian cookbooks revealed just a few recipes, all in Sicilian dishes.

And there I realized the two great follies of those chewy little tarts that once nearly caused me to lose a filling.

sun-dried tomato salad ingredients: croutons, tomatoes, arugula, onion, fennel, parsley
Photo: Casey Barber

The process of drying tomatoes in the blistering sun under a cheesecloth is a Sicilian summer ritual. Heat intensifies the tomatoes’ fresh summer flavor and keeps their nutritional value.

Once dried, the tomatoes are preserved in extra virgin olive oil to be enjoyed throughout the year.

But unless tomatoes are dried under the Sicilian sun or slowly in your oven at 200 degrees, they can be ghastly.

sun-dried tomato salad with fennel, arugula, onion and bread cubes
Photo: Casey Barber

The common industrial tomato is dried in large commercial ovens and preserved with sulfur dioxide and citric acid, muting the actual taste of tomato while enhancing the sourness and acidity.

Second, sun-dried tomatoes in the nineties were most often paired with a mild flavor, like goat cheese or mozzarella in sandwiches. (Starbucks still insists on this.)

Instead of the flavors balancing each other, the red menace takes over and bullies everything around it.

sun-dried tomato salad with fennel, arugula, onion and bread cubes

But if we use the fail-proof rule of “what grows together goes together,” sun-dried tomatoes belong with the other strong flavors of Sicilian food: oregano, fennel, onions, and stout olive oil.

Proof positive is my sun-dried tomato salad that takes its cues from panzanella, or bread salad. Feel free to improvise with the quantities, though make sure the flavors are all bold and strong.

sun-dried tomato salad with fennel, arugula, onion and bread cubes

Sun-Dried Tomato Panzanella Salad

Yield: 2 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Make a panzanella-style sun-dried tomato salad with tender olive oil-marinated tomatoes and arugula for a deeply flavorful Italian bread salad. It's even better when made ahead of time.

Ingredients

  • half a loaf of crusty Italian bread, cut into large cubes
  • 1/2 cup fruity extra virgin olive oil, divided
  • 1 small fennel bulb
  • 1 small red onion
  • 10-12 olive-oil packed Italian sun-dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped
  • 2 cups arugula (about 1 1/2 ounces)
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 teaspoon Sicilian oregano
  • 3 tablespoons white wine or red wine vinegar

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  2. Toss the bread cubes with 1/4 cup of the olive oil in a bowl.
  3. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 8 minutes, until golden and chewy but not deeply browned and too crisp.
  4. Allow the bread cubes to cool while you assemble the salad.
  5. Slice the stems and fronds off the fennel bulb, reserving a few fronds for the salad.
  6. Thinly slice the fennel bulb on a mandoline or slicer, discarding the tough root end.
  7. Thinly slice about 1/4 to 1/2 of the onion the same way, reserving the remaining onion for another use.
  8. Stir the sliced fennel and onion with the sun-dried tomatoes, arugula, parsley, and oregano together in a large bowl.
  9. Add the bread and toss gently to combine.
  10. Drizzle with the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil and vinegar and toss again until all the ingredients are well mixed.
  11. Divide between 2 bowls and garnish with fennel fronds, if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1567Total Fat: 140gSaturated Fat: 19gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 116gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 676mgCarbohydrates: 67gFiber: 7gSugar: 8gProtein: 13g

The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.

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5 Comments

  1. So true! And as I am coming off a Sicilian jag myself, I am adding this to my queue to try. I actually slow-roasted and froze some of my own tomatoes this summer, so I think I know where I will go for these… yay, payoff! Love panzanella.

  2. Perfect timing, because I have a load of tomatoes right now! I’ve never made my own sun dried tomatoes, but I was contemplating it – and now, I think I will. Looking forward to trying the panzanella.

  3. Being a vegetarian in the 90s turned me off of the mozzarella/grilled veg/sun-dried tomato sandwich FOREVER–they were the only thing you could get at a lot of places. I occasionally still like dried tomatoes in a salad with feta and chickpeas…but they do have to be good, not overly chewy and dry and too bitter. I did oven dried tomatoes a couple of years when I had a CSA share and they were SO good! May do that again now for this salad…

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