Classic Panzanella makes the best summer salad, but this recipe gets a makeover with grilled vegetables and bread, dressed with a spicy pesto dressing.
This panzanella salad draws its best flavor from grilled vegetables and grilled bread. But by tossing this winning combination with a spicy pesto dressing the flavors come together with a tantalizing flare.
Panzanella salad is an Italian classic that was designed for using up old bread. Typically, staled bread cubes are mixed with tomatoes and onion and dressed with oil and vinegar. The staled bread soaks up the juices and dressing making an appetizing summer salad.
While this recipe makes a vibrant summer salad, it is vegetable salad that can be served year round. As the focus is on the vegetables, the bread becomes an accomplice bringing texture and flavor. Zucchini, bell peppers, tomato and onions are grilled to heighten their flavor. After grilling these tasty veggies are cut and combined with grilled crunchy bread. Finally everyone gets to jump in the pool for where they are tossed in a spicy pesto dressing made from Jalapeno Pesto.
Honestly, this salad is delicious! Let me tell you, that I have never been a big fan of zucchini. That is until I tried this salad. Truly, I am a convert.
And it’s the perfect way to use up the bounty of summer vegetables from your garden. The most difficult part of this dish is grilling the different vegetables. And really, it’s not difficult so much as it requires a little time. However, to help keep it simple the vegetables can be grilled in advance and refrigerated until ready to use.
The Vegetables:
Onion
In choosing an onion for grilling, look for an extremely large onion. It can be either a red or sweet brown onion, your choice. But the large onions are easier to slice and grill. For easier grilling, cut the onions into thick slices, about 3/4 of an inch thick. Drizzle each slice with a few drops of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for about 8-10 minutes. Flip the slices over and continue to grill an additional 8-10 minutes, until onions become soft and translucent. Because the onions take the longest to cook, place them on the grill first.
Bell Peppers
Choose thick walled red bell peppers. Prepare peppers for grilling by cutting off the top and removing the seed pod. Cut the pepper into quarters by cutting along the pepper’s sections. Grilling the peppers whole results in the peppers becoming extremely soggy.
Before grilling, rub the pepper with a few drops of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Begin by placing the peppers skin side down first. Grill the bell peppers for about 7 minutes, just until the skin becomes bubbly and slightly charred. Turn over and continue to grill for another 3 minutes. Immediately remove from the grill and place in a small bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for about 10 minutes. After the peppers are cool enough to handle, the skins should peel away easily. However, every now and then you get a pepper that just will not release its skin. No worries, just cut the peppers into bite-size pieces, skin and all.
Zucchini
To prepare the zucchini for the grill, remove the stem and blossom ends. With a vegetable peeler, make long lengthwise stripes in the green skin. Next, slice the zucchini in half lengthwise. Lightly brush all over with olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. When grilling, place flat side down first. Grill for about 4-5 minutes and flip over. Continue to grill the skin side for another 2-3 minutes. This will vary depending on the size of the zucchini. The goal is to cook but not overcook, keeping the zucchini firm. Remove from grill and let cool. Once the zucchini is cool enough to handle, make bite-size cuts by slicing across the width of the zucchini.
Tomatoes
For the best results, use cherry or grape tomatoes. Whole large tomatoes get too wet. Toss the tomatoes with a few drops of olive oil and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. As tomatoes are delicate, they will require the least amount of grill time. When grilling, it is important to remember to just grill until the skin on the tomato pops and cracks. Don’t leave them on the grill until they deflate or you will have tomato soup. Basically, the tomatoes are cooked for just a few minutes.
After grilling, let the tomatoes cool in a separate bowl. I prefer to keep them separate until just before serving. Sometimes tomatoes will weep because they are juicy. This can make the salad overly wet. By keeping them separate, it will help to eliminate a soupy salad. Add the tomatoes to the salad last and just before serving the salad.
The Bread
Choosing the right bread for this salad, will make the best grilled panzanella.
Rustic style bread with a chewy interior will make a delicious panzanella salad. Choose a bread with a crusty well baked exterior. Also, bread with large the holes in the crumb (the interior) will toast up crispier. A well toasted, crispy bread will be able to hold its shape and stand up to the liquid released by the grilled vegetables. Sourdough breads are a good choice for panzanella salads.
Another one of my favorite choices for grilled bread are Ciabatta rolls. Costco sells a ciabatta style roll also called a torte roll. This style of roll grills up nicely. Breads that have crispy exteriors and a chewy interior crumb are good choices. Stay away from light airy types of bread, like French bread. While they grill nicely, they will soak up the liquid from the vegetables and quickly become soggy.
Begin by lightly brushing the bread with oil on both sides. Season with a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Grill the bread cut-side down first for about 3-4 minutes. Flip over and continue to grill crust side for an additional minute or two. Once the grilled bread has cooled, cut it into small cubes. Additionally, add the bread just before serving. This will help to keep it from becoming soggy from the juices that are released from the vegetables.
The Dressing
To bring extra bold flavor to the dressing, it is seasoned with a few teaspoons of Spicy Jalapeno Pesto. This spicy pesto sauce is easy to make and can be used in a number of recipes. For instance, it makes a great marinade for chicken and fish as well as grilled vegetables. Furthermore, it can be made ahead and stored in the freezer. Also, you will find it makes a crazy delicious pasta sauce whether you use it alone or added to a cream sauce.
The remaining ingredients for the dressing are simple basic pantry items. Olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper are all you need to complete the dressing. I add a few teaspoons of Parmesan cheese for extra flavor, but this can be omitted.
However, there is another option. If you are in a pinch, store bought pesto will make an excellent substitute. Simply follow the directions for the dressing replacing the Spicy Jalapeno Pesto measure for measure with regular pesto.
My Favorite Products used in making this recipe.
Olive Oil for cooking
If you are looking for a flavorful olive oil, you may like to try this brand. This is one of my favorite brands of olive oil. The oil is of good quality and flavor without being overly expensive. For this reason, it is the perfect choice for daily cooking. Save the more expensive olive oils for finishing dishes and dressings.
Grill Baskets
While a grill basket isn’t necessary to prepare this dish, it certainly makes life easier. After purchasing this grill basket, I wondered why we waited so long to get one. Not only does it make grilling small tomatoes easier, but onions as well. No more losing slices of onion through the grill grates. Additionally, we have come to embrace smashed baby potatoes cooked in this basket. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.
My concern has always been using coated materials over the high heat of a grill. Furthermore, I had been put off of most grill baskets because of my concern over sharp edges. Many of the grill baskets on the market today have sharp jagged edges that can easily cut during washing. But when I found this grill basket by All-Clad, I was impressed as it possess the quality one would expect from the name. All in all, the edges are smooth and finished, and it is easy to clean. Additionally this pan can be found in both a rectangular basket and a round basket. I highly recommend this product with 5 Stars!
A 1 1/2 cup serving of Grilled Panzanella Salad with dressing is 4 WW Smart Points or 366 Calories.
For Dressing Only: If you wish to use the dressing in another application, I have broken the points value out separately. The whole recipe has a point count of 6 WW Smart Points or 135 calories for 3 Tablespoons, or 2 WW Smart Points per Tablespoon. However, this has already been formulated into the points count for the Panzanella Salad.
Buon Appetito!
PrintBest Grilled Panzanella Salad
Panzanella is an Italian classic dish with the focus on bread. But this recipe makeover brings the focus to the grilled vegetables with the bread as the costar. This delicious combination is finished with a simple dressing made from Jalapeno Pesto.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 4 Servings/6 Cups 1x
- Category: Salads
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Low Calorie
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- 4 ounces Crusty Bread, Artisan style breads with an airy crumb like sourdough or ciabatta.
- 2 Red Bell Peppers, washed, cored and cut in quarters (yellow or orange may be substituted)
- 3 Medium-sized Zucchini, washed and cut in half lengthwise
- 1 Large Sweet Onion, sliced into 3 thick slices
- 16 Baby Tomatoes, washed and left whole
- 1–2 teaspoons Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper for seasoning
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley Leaves, roughly chopped (optional)
For the Dressing:
- 2 teaspoons Olive Oil
- 2 teaspoons Champagne Vinegar, or other white wine vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt or Kosher Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- 2 teaspoons Spicy Jalapeno Pesto Sauce
- 2 teaspoons Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
- 1 teaspoons Broth* or water (*Either vegetable or chicken broth may be used.)
Instructions
For Dressing:
- Combine all ingredients for dressing in small jar or glass measuring cup.
- Whisk together and set aside.
For Salad:
- Preheat grill on high.
- Lightly brush the vegetables and bread with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Over a very hot preheated barbecue, begin to grill vegetables. (Please see notes above on grilling different types of vegetables.)
- Start with the longest cooking vegetable and end with the shortest cooking time. This would be: Onions first, Bell Peppers second, Zucchini third and Tomatoes last.
- Onions will cook for a total of 18-20 minutes. Bell Peppers will take between 10-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the pepper wall. Zucchini will take about 7-8 minutes and tomatoes will cook in about 2-3 minutes. The bread will take about 5-7 minutes. Remove vegetables before they become over cooked. The idea here is to grill until no longer raw.
- After grilling pepper, place in a small bowl and cover with plastic. (This step will help making peeling the skin an easy task.) If you don’t mind the pepper skin, skip this step.
- Let vegetables cool until they can be handled easily and cut into bite-size pieces. (See vegetable notes above for references.)
- Place zucchini, bell peppers and onion in a medium-sized serving bowl and mix to combine together. (I prefer to add the tomatoes last, just before serving. This will help to keep them from becoming crushed.)
- Cut the cooled bread, into 1-inch cubes.
- Add the bread cubes and dressing to the tossed vegetables and mix once again to combine.
- Chill until ready to serve.
- Just before serving, add the tomatoes and gently combine together.
- If desired, garnish with chopped fresh parsley.
