Warm Winter Panzanella

Getting in your New Year greens

I’m back this week and wishing a warm and happy 2023 to all AT subscribers. If you’re like me, you spent the holidays eating your fair share of red meat — Christmas rib roast, a New Year’s Eve steak — and, as such, it’s time to dial up the cruciferous vegetables for a healthful January. But, of course, it is still January; some degree of heartiness remains in order. I recently made a “winter panzanella” of sorts, swapping summer tomatoes and cucumbers for mushrooms, artichokes, and puntarelle, and it’s something I’ll be making often throughout these next few winter months.

The star of the dish remains, regardless of season, the sizable chunks of dark miche bread that are first toasted, then pleasantly soggified with oil and vinegar. These croutons (preferably sourced, in my opinion, from She Wolf miche) are scattered amongst gently-seared mushrooms and artichoke hearts and sautéed puntarelle, then dressed in a powerful anchovy-garlic paste and served warm. Top this off with some of the raw puntarelle leaves and rest it on a schmear of labneh, and you have a strong competitor to the traditional summer panzanella.

There are plenty more winter dishes to come in these early months, both meaty and green, but whichever you choose, happy cooking in the new year and beyond.

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