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PANZANELLA SALAD 2 WAYS AND CRISPY SMASHED ROASTED POTOATOES.

PANZANELLA SALAD 2 WAYS AND CRISPY SMASHED ROASTED POTOATOES.
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Photo showing Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Chives

Crispy Smashed Potatoes

A salad of Tomatoes, Basil and Tuna
Panzanella Salad with Tuna
 

       

WE’VE BEEN MAKING THESE RECIPES FOR PANZANELLA AND POTATOES FOR AGES.

Sometimes I am astonished at what’s not on Chewing the Fat.  Just when I start to worry that I’ll never find a recipe that I haven’t already tried, I discover amazing gaps in our collection.  Take these two recipes:  The first is an Italian classic.  Just as the season’s tomatoes can’t get any sweeter and riper, I love to put together this easy offering of garlicky toasted peasant bread, red onions, olive oil, vinegar, and basil.  The salad has its origins in Tuscany and is a specialty of Firenze.  It’s one of those gifts of ingenuity from the kitchens of the poor who put every scrap of bread to use.  Almost every Italian cookbook has a recipe for this salad and you can find plenty of recipes far more complex than this one.  My dearly remembered friend, Marcella Hazan, made hers with capers, bell pepper, anchovy filets, and cucumbers added to the tomatoes and red onions.  Today, I bring you the most basic of all Panzanella recipes.  And thanks to Bebe Caggiano, the Italian-American food writer and chef, the next day you can lunch on the leftovers by adding canned tuna and fresh basil to last night’s salad.  The crunch is gone: replaced by intensely flavored ‘croutons’ and marinated tomatoes.  It’s so simple!

Less than 2 miles from our house…
Long Island Potatoes!

SMASHED POTATOES ARE SOMETHING EVERYONE SHOULD ADD TO THEIR REPERTOIRE

I was staggered to see that I had never blogged about Smashed Potatoes.  First of all, Long Island and potatoes are like bread and butter.  Every day I pass acres and acres of them growing around here.  I’m particularly partial to the baby reds that are the first to appear at the farm stand.  And they are ideal for this recipe.  These Smashed potatoes were love at first bite.  I’ve made them many ways: Sometimes they’re fried on the stovetop in gobs of butter or even better, duck fat.  Then I read about a roasting technique in Fine Cooking magazine.  This method is far healthier than fat-frying your potatoes.  That being said, Fine Cooking suggested topping the potatoes with sour cream and chives, which removes becoming too sanctimonious over oven roasting.  And I discovered that the olive oil Fine Cooking recommended could be swapped out for melted duck fat.  These are heaven.  And the next best thing to a great French fry.  Maybe even better. Here are the recipes:

 


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