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RebeccaT
06-08-2004, 01:20 PM
Has anyone made this yet? I want to make it for dinner, but would love to know if it needs tweaking. I searched and couldn't find any threads about it. TIA!

Gazpacho Panzanella
From Cooking Light


This colorful salad combines the best of the classic Spanish soup, gazpacho, and the Italian bread salad, panzanella. Chop the vegetables and toast the bread cubes ahead of time, but toss the salad right before serving because the bread will soak up the juices and become soggy if it sits too long. If you prefer a drier panzanella, simply add less dressing. Use olive oil-flavored cooking spray if you have it.

Salad:
4 ounces French bread, cut into (1/2-inch) cubes
Cooking spray
3 1/2 cups chopped seeded tomato (about 2 pounds)
2 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast meat
1 3/4 cups chopped seeded cucumber (about 1 pound)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup vertically sliced red onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Dressing:
1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable juice
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1 tablespoon water
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare salad, arrange bread cubes in a single layer on a baking sheet. Lightly coat bread cubes with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once. Set aside.

Place tomato, chicken, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, and parsley in a large bowl; toss gently to combine.

To prepare dressing, combine the juice and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over salad, tossing gently to coat. Stir in bread cubes; let stand for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 1/2 cups)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 294 (24% from fat); FAT 7.7g (sat 1.5g, mono 4.1g, poly 1.4g); PROTEIN 26.9g; CARB 29.6g; FIBER 4.4g; CHOL 60mg; IRON 3mg; SODIUM 553mg; CALC 68mg;

BeachBum
06-08-2004, 02:13 PM
It's on my menu for this week so I'll keep you posted.

beckms
06-08-2004, 03:51 PM
Weird...I definitely posted a review of this, I even referenced it in another thread, but now it's nowhere to be found!

Anyway, I made this and liked it. I would praise it even more if I hadn't also made the White Bean and Roasted Chicken Salad from the same article, which I LOVED. The Gazpacho Panzanella was good in its own right, but not as good, IMO, as the other one.

I don't think I tweaked it at all. Report back if you make it!:D

beckms
06-08-2004, 03:53 PM
Of course, now that I think about it, I did tweak it one bit: I used cubes of focaccia bread from a local restaurant, the kind that is served with a dipper of good olive oil. Sooooo tasty, especially as croutons. So it may have been a little more decadent than if made with French bread.

RebeccaT
06-08-2004, 03:57 PM
Yeah, Rebecca, I saw your reference to your review, but I couldn't find the actual review to save my life!

I'll bet it was good with foccacia! I was thinking about making this with ciabatta, but I don't think I have enough in my freezer. Well, I'll see how it goes with my french bread, and I'll report back!

I did just realize that I don't have the v-8 juice, do you think I need it?

beckms
06-08-2004, 04:07 PM
I think without the tomato juice it would just be a regular dressing. Still good, but not really gazpacho-y. Try it an see how you like it!

RebeccaT
06-09-2004, 09:29 AM
We liked it!

I did end up running to the grocery, so I picked up some tomato juice cocktail. I really liked the fresh, garden-y flavor of this salad. I made it with french baguette cubes, which got that nice, soft panzanella-y texture when mixed into the salad. And the serving was HUGE! I actually couldn't finish it!!

My small changes - I used half a green and half a yellow bell pepper instead of all green. I added the juice of half a lemon to the dressing (which gave it a very nice tang) and threw in about 1/2 cup sliced basil that was about to go south on me. I really liked the basil addition, and would do that again.

I am really happy to have discovered the White Bean salad and this one. I love picking up rotisserie chickens on weekends, and these salads are a great way to get two meals out of them!

MusicMom
06-09-2004, 09:37 AM
I made it and enjoyed it too. DH is used to crusty croutons, so I had to educate him about these. :rolleyes:

The only bad thing is that the leftovers aren't that great with the icky bread.

beckms
06-09-2004, 10:37 AM
Yes, I think if you're planning to jave leftovers, you should just mix the bread into the individual portions rather than lixing into the whole dish. That way they won't get soggy and gross. I wouldn't know, since I scarfed the whole bowl I made for myself. :rolleyes:

RebeccaT, glad you liked it!

jenanania
06-09-2004, 10:45 AM
We made this last week and really liked it. We kept the croutons separate and just mixed them into our individual servings so that the leftovers wouldn't be soggy. If you enjoy panzanella, you should also try the Sourdough Panzanella with Grilled Flank Steak from the March 2004 Cooking Light magazine. My husband loves that recipe.

BethR
06-09-2004, 11:16 PM
Originally posted by beckms
Weird...I definitely posted a review of this, I even referenced it in another thread, but now it's nowhere to be found!

Anyway, I made this and liked it. I would praise it even more if I hadn't also made the White Bean and Roasted Chicken Salad from the same article, which I LOVED. The Gazpacho Panzanella was good in its own right, but not as good, IMO, as the other one.

I don't think I tweaked it at all. Report back if you make it!:D

I remember seeing the reference in the other thread, but couldn't find your review either -- weird.

I really liked this -- it was so fresh-tasting. I used a spicy-hot vegetable juice cocktail--which wasn't sodium-reduced--then forgot and added the full amount of salt to the dressing. So it was a tad salty due to my error; next time I'll reduce or eliminate the added salt.

After your glowing words about the White Bean and Roasted Chicken Salad, I have to give that one a go. Thanks!

Beth :)