For lunch, some people love cold cuts, flavored yogurts, and other quasi-convenience foods—they are easy to grab and go. I don't love shortcuts. Especially if they are not that tasty. So making lunch out of what’s around is a daily challenge. Since I work at home, I often have leftovers from dinner the night before or drips and drabs that need using up. But I don’t want to spend a huge amount of time or effort as it’s too much of a distraction.
Sometimes that results in a “kind of grim lunch.” I didn’t realize I had actually named these until my husband mimicked me saying it once out of context and it echoed, hard, in my mind. (I say that often?) They usually aren’t bad, just meager. Like the world’s tiniest Chinese take-out container of my friend’s cashew chicken from 2 days before (I couldn’t let it get thrown away, but now I see it was only one bite), with half an English muffin to round it out. My mother is also tired of hearing about grim lunches: her quickness to ask if I’m eating “just chickpeas”—I can sense her rolling her eyes over the phone—is similarly telling. (I admit I’ve relied heavily on chickpeas in the past.) I hope those closest to me can accept that I am not a one-trick pony. I can make a good and substantial lunch for myself without blowing my whole afternoon. Truly.
Like last week. I had a heel of Italian bread that was so stale it squeaked when I tried to cut into it and a bunch of veggies that needed moving. That may not sound like an auspicious beginning, but you can make all sorts of things with stale bread.* This time, I wanted panzanella.
At its base, panzanella is an Italian stale bread salad made with tomatoes and cucumbers—things I happened to have bought at the farmer’s market last weekend—and a bright vinaigrette; it sits long enough that the bread softens after absorbing the tomato juices and dressing. The Greeks have many versions of the same idea, some with bread called paximadi; in Lebanon, they have fattoush, with stale pitas. I’d guess that most bread-eating cultures have a salad that approximates this—thriftiness knows no borders, after all.
Any plain bakery-style loaf that actually goes stale should work—baguettes, sourdough, country bread, aforementioned pitas—but supermarket sliced bread will not.** If your loaf is old but not yet hard, cube and toast it in the oven or a pan for a few minutes to dry it out. (Any moisture you can drive out of the bread now means more dressing can be absorbed later.)
The base salad is also a great receptacle for whatever else you have kicking around: cheese, herbs, other vegetables. It’s nice to add something green: I had lacinato kale, but it would have been too tough; however, a big handful of parsley leaves was just the thing. (Parsley is delicious in salads—it is so fresh tasting, goes with all sorts of cuisines, and is always in my fridge.) To add a little flair, there was also a small hunk of goat cheese and a couple of lingering slices of salami that I cut into ribbons. If I had let it sit another 10 minutes, it would have made it even better, but it was pretty delicious as is. And that was that—the quickest of lunches, and definitively not grim.
Panzanella
For the dressing, mix up red wine vinegar, twice as much olive oil (or three times—to your taste), a little honey, and salt and pepper in the bottom of a salad bowl. It’s good to make slightly more dressing that you would for a green salad, as the bread is going to soak a lot of it up; for one person, I’d aim for at least 1/4 cup. Add a couple of chopped very ripe tomatoes (and their juices) and half a deseeded cuke. Toss in the cubed stale bread now so it can start soaking, then look around for what else you might contribute. If you like, add a little lettuce or arugula (but not so much it turns into a green salad), herbs (dill, basil, mint, or parsley leaves), and a little crumbled cheese (feta would be delicious, even cubed fresh mozzarella). A bit of cured meat—like two tiny slices of salami, sliced—is delightfully extravagant, at least in my world.
* Other things to do with stale bread:
- Make Bread Pilaf like my friend Kerri Conan: see her blog post on Markbittman.com. Yum.
- Make croutons—toss bread cubes with salt and pepper and more olive oil than you might like to use, and crisp up in a pan or bake. Great with salad, soup, or served under roast chicken.
- Make one of two Italian bread soups: ribollita or pappa al pomodoro. Or use as a thickener for gazpacho: soak the bread in water until soft, then squeeze out and blend with the rest of the ingredients.
- Make strata. Mix cubes of bread with beaten eggs, almost as much milk, cheese to taste, and whatever cooked veggies/sausage you like. Let this mixture soak, refrigerated, in a casserole dish at least a few hours to overnight, then bake until puffed and golden.
- Bread pudding. Same idea as strata, but without cheese/savory additions, and sweetened with sugar or maple syrup. Flavor it any way you like: cinnamon and sautéed apples (and whiskey); raisins or other dried fruit; fresh berries; nuts; chocolate chips.
- Crush into breadcrumbs with a food processor or your own will/hands/rolling pin (in a ziptop bag), then:
- Toast in olive oil and sprinkle on top of anchovy pasta: Empty a can of anchovies into a pan with olive oil, red pepper flakes, and a few cloves of chopped garlic; when the garlic is golden and the anchovies have dissolved, toss in just-cooked spaghetti, a little pasta water, and tons of chopped parsley.
- Mix into meatballs or meatloaf.
- Season with oil, herbs, and garlic, pile onto halved tomatoes or zucchini, then broil. These seasoned crumbs can also top a casserole, baked pasta, or vegetable gratin.
- Dip boneless chicken thighs in mustard or a beaten egg, then into crumbs; drizzle with olive oil and roast or pan fry.
- Sprinkle on top of a white fish filet with the spices of your choice (paprika, chili powder, old Bay are all reliable), drizzle with oil or melted butter, and bake.
** No longer buying bad supermarket bread is a new thing for me. I used to keep a loaf of 100% whole wheat sandwich bread around for an egg in the hole and PB&Js. But the ingredients in that kind of bread, even “healthy” types, are numerous and questionable, plus they just don't taste good. Further, the fact that it doesn’t go stale troubles me. Upgrading costs barely more, and my eating is considerably improved. Good-quality sliced breads without preservatives can get moldy quick, so I keep it in the freezer and toast a piece at a time.
