Tomato and peach panzanella

We’re onto our second heatwave of the summer here in the UK. Gardens and parks are turning a delightful shade of brown, hosepipe bans are looming, and frankly, no one’s in the mood for cooking much right now (myself included). I currently live in a very well insulated one bedroom flat, which is super cosy in the winter but a bit furnace-like at this time of year - at the time of writing it’s 29.5°C (85°F) inside the flat. Having limited living space means that putting the oven on for too long risks forcing the mercury up even higher, so we’ve been trying to come up with as many oven-free/oven-lite dinners as we can to get us through this long, hot summer.

A month or so ago, when scrolling through reels on Instagram (as you do) I stumbled upon a recipe for a balsamic stone fruit panzanella by Jackie Shao. I’m clearly not the only one that this recipe was recommended to - at the time of writing Jackie’s reel has been viewed over 13 million times, and if I’m honest it’s for a good reason! This panzanella is quick, oh so fresh and only involves a small amount of “ovening”, which in my mind makes it the perfect meal for this time of year.

Panzanella is traditionally quite a simple Italian dish made with stale and unwanted leftovers, generally stale bread soaked in water with tomatoes, onions, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This version is a twist on the classic - onions are swapped out for cucumber and peach, a little basil and mozzarella is thrown in (the original recipe calls for burrata, but mozzarella works just as well and is a bit kinder on the bank balance!), and there’s no soggy bread in sight, just some crispy sourdough croutons and a tangy dressing. With such a simple dish, I think that it’s worth spending as much as you can afford on decent tomatoes and bread. You can get delicious tomatoes grown in the UK at this time of year, and this dish really showcases them at their best. For the bread, I’d recommend a sourdough loaf (I buy the San Fransisco style sourdough from Sainsbury’s for this recipe), but otherwise a really good crusty white loaf will also work. You roughly want a thick slice of bread per portion which can then be cut into cubes and cooked, briefly, in the oven until golden and crunchy.

The peaches are a bit of a novel inclusion to the standard recipe, but they work so well! Any colour of peach, or nectarine, will suffice; the juicy fruit paired with the fragrant basil and creamy mozzarella really is delicious. This recipe is best eaten straightaway while it’s still fresh, but if you do want to save some for later or make it in advance I recommend preparing the component parts and storing them separately until it’s time to eat. This recipe makes four very generous portions, so if you’re serving as a side you could definitely stretch this to serve six or even eight people. Let me know in the comments if you make it yourself - I’d love to know what you think!

Tomato and peach panzanella

Serves: 4, generously | Total time: 30 mins | Source: Jackie Shao

Ingredients

For the croutons:

• 250g (9oz) sourdough bread, or really good white bread

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Salt and black pepper

For the salad:

• 2 beef tomatoes, around 600g (1lb 5oz) in total

• 200g (7oz) cherry tomatoes

• ½ tsp fine salt

• 4 peaches or nectarines

• ½ cucumber

• 150g (5oz) mozzarella

• 15g (½ oz) fresh basil

For the dressing:

• 4 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

• Juice of ½ lemon / 1.5 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

Method

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Start by taking your bread and cutting it into roughly 2.5cm/1 inch cubes. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil and a good grinding of salt and black pepper. Mix well with you hands, and once the oven is hot place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes until golden brown.

• Now for the tomatoes. Place a colander over a bowl and chop your tomatoes into bitesized chunks (the cherry tomatoes can just be halved). Add the tomatoes to the colander and add around ½ tsp of salt to help draw the moisture out of the tomatoes.

• Take your cucumber and cut into quarters lengthways, then slice into 1cm thick pieces. Halve and de-stone the peaches and chop into bitesized pieces. Cut the basil into thin ribbons and tear up the mozzarella, then add the cucumber, peach, basil and cheese to a large bowl.

• To make the dressing, add 4 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, the juice of ½ lemon (or 1.5 tbsp lemon juice) and 1 tbsp honey or maple syrup to an airtight jar or container. Pour in whatever liquid you managed to collect from the bowl underneath the salted tomatoes, seal the jar and shake well to combine.

• Once the croutons are cooked, add them plus your tomatoes to the large bowl containing the rest of ingredients. Pour over the dressing and toss well to coat. Serve and eat immediately with some freshly ground black pepper on top.