Recipe written by Vanja van der Leeden
With this panzanella variation I will probably irritate the Italians, but do they know that in Italy there are also many variations on the theme? In Sicily, for example, they mix fried aubergine through it and on the Tuscan coast you eat the bread salad with seafood. I am writing this to cover myself, because I am afraid of the rotten tomatoes that will be fired at me from Italy because of this panzanella with mango, lime and a drop of fish sauce. But if you consider that the Romans were generous with the ancient fish sauce garum and mangoes grow in Sicily nowadays, it is not so strange. Moreover, Dutch tomatoes are not as sweet as Italian ones, the mango helps to make the whole thing sweeter.
Preparation time: 15 minutes + 15 minutes steeping
Ingredients
800 grams ripe tomatoes
¼ tsp salt
½ red onion, peeled
1 tbsp red or white wine vinegar
2 stalks of celery
4 snack cucumbers (approx. 175 grams)
1 ripe mango
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp honey
2 tbsp fish sauce ( I use the one from Phans which I wrote about before )
pinch of chili flakes
3 cm fresh ginger, peeled
8 tbsp. good olive oil
200 grams of old bread (2 thick slices of sourdough)
few sprigs of basil, the leaves
freshly ground black pepper
Cut the tomatoes into wedges or slices and sprinkle with salt.
Cut the onion into very thin rings (I do that on the mandolin). Soak in 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and 1 tablespoon of water.
Remove the strings from the celery and slice the stalks very thinly. Cut the cucumbers into pieces and smash them with the mortar so that the dressing can seep into them.
Peel the mango and cut into cubes or strips.
Mix the lime juice with the honey, fish sauce and 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Grate the ginger to a pulp and mix into the dressing with a pinch of chilli flakes. Mix in a large bowl with the tomatoes with the celery slices and the cucumber. Let it infuse for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200°C. Tear the bread into large pieces, drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and toast the croutons in the oven for 7-8 minutes.
Divide the onion rings and bread croutons over the salad and garnish with plenty of basil.
