I’ve been on the road for work for the past four months. The kitchens at the Airbnbs I’ve stayed at along the way have been varying levels of equipped. On the high end, I appreciated one kitchen’s powerful blender and stovetop espresso maker. On the low end, there was a kitchen in Austin.
The Austin kitchen had no instrument with which to make coffee (a cardinal sin, in my book— though there was, thank God, a wine bottle opener). The cutting board was warped and wobbly. There wasn’t even a vegetable peeler. The occupant of the apartment was in his late twenties, which made this all very confusing: had he really made it this long in life without making coffee at home, chopping. . . anything, or cooking a vegetable that requires peeling?
And yet, out of that kitchen came this beauty: a spring panzanella salad, with asparagus, sugar snap peas, and leeks. It does not require a ton of chopping, so I survived the wobbly cutting board. None of the veg need peeled, circumventing the lack of a vegetable peeler. And the snappy, green seasonal vegetables were exactly what I wanted to eat on one of the first really warm weeks in April, while the bread and dressing filled things out nicely.
All of this is to say: though it certainly makes cooking more pleasant, you don’t need fancy equipment or a ton of ingredients to turn out something worth eating. This spring panzanella salad recipe is proof. But please, still: buy yourself a vegetable peeler.
Other springtime favorites:
Leek Fritters with Herbed Yogurt Sauce
Asparagus Pizza with One-Step Pizza Dough
Also in the hearty salad category:
Salade Niçoise, My Way or Yours + A Taste of Provence
Asian Chicken Salad with Snap Peas and Bok Choy
Lentil, Roasted Tomato, and Gorgonzola Salad
End-of-Summer Panzanella
Farro Salad with Radicchio, Root Vegetables, and Pomegranate
… and so many more! (truly, hearty salads appear to be my primary food group)
Spring Panzanella
6
servingsIngredients
- Croutons
1/4 cup (60mL) olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
One big loaf of good bread, some of crust removed, cubed (from a ~1.5-pound/680g loaf)
1/2 cup (35g) grated Parmesan (optional, but who doesn’t love a cheesy crouton?)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Vinaigrette
3/4 red onion or a couple of shallots, diced (tip here on how to minimize that raw-onion bite)
5 tablespoons (74mL) champagne or white wine vinegar
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup (118mL) olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- Salad
6 leeks
3 teaspoons salt
2 pounds (907g) asparagus, tough bottom ends broken off
8-10 ounces (226-283g) sugar snap peas
2 19-ounce (538-g) cans of white beans, rinsed and drained; or 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400F (204C).
- Mix the bread cubes with the garlic, olive oil, parmesan, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Toss to coat well. Transfer bread to a baking sheet. Bake, stirring once or twice, until the croutons are crisp and lightly colored on the outside but still soft within, about 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside and let cool.
- Mix the red onion with the vinegar and lemon juice in a jar or small bowl and set aside for a few minutes before whisking in the olive oil and dijon. Taste and adjust as desired. If you’re not eating or serving all six servings now, leave the dressing in the jar (or transfer to jar if you mixed in a bowl) to store.
- Cut off dark green tops of leeks as well as the root ends. Halve each leek lengthwise to within 2 inches of root end. Rinse well under cold running water to wash away sand. If your leeks are really sandy or if you’re just not sure that you got all of it out, fill the bottom of your sink with cold water, submerge the leeks, and swish them around. (It sucks to find sand in the final dish, so when in doubt, don’t skip this step.)
- Fill large pot of big enough to fit the entire length of all of the leeks with cold water and a good pinch of salt. Add leeks. Add salt, turn up heat, and simmer leeks, uncovered for 10 minutes (slightly less for thinner leeks, more for big guys). When the leeks are about 2 minutes from being done, toss the asparagus and the peas into the pot. Continue to boil the leeks, asparagus, and peas all together until crisp-tender, about 2 more minutes.
- Drain the vegetables, transfer them to a big bowl or sink full of ice water, drain again, and pat dry. (Be especially thorough about getting as much water as you can out of the leeks.)
- Cut the leeks and the asparagus each into one-inch segments–the leeks will be especially slippery, so be careful with that knife. Place pieces in a large bowl and mix in beans. If you’re planning to eat the whole thing now, mix in all of the parmesan croutons and all of the dressing. If you’re planning on leftovers, put only as much veg as you’re going to need tonight into a separate bowl and toss with croutons + enough dressing to moisten (see notes following recipe on how to store leftovers). Let sit for a couple of minutes– you want the dressing to moisten and start to soften the croutons. Season with salt and pepper. Serve!
Notes
- Cooking for leftovers? Store the vegetables and beans in one bowl in the fridge, the dressing in a jar in your pantry, and the croutons in a plastic bag on the counter.
- If you’re taking a serving into work for lunch, feel free to dress in the morning— everything here is substantial enough to handle a few hours marinating in the dressing without deteriorating.
Although you know my favorite iteration of leeks (cough cough pancakes of the night), this looks like a winning plan B. Also, carb salad is the only salad. Love the new look and can’t wait to see more!!
Haha! This recipe is a winner, but it’s not clear that anything can compete with leek fritters. (Honestly could go one right now, at 12:21am. I’m not ashamed.)