Winter Panzanella Salad with Roasted Grapes
Red grapes roasted until they wrinkle and give up a sticky syrup, tossed with oven-crisped rustic bread, shaved fennel and arugula in a sage and red wine vinegar dressing. The grape juices from the sheet pan go straight into the vinaigrette.
Ingredients
The Salad
- 2 cups red seedless grapes pulled off the stem, red or black rather than green
- 6 ounces stale rustic bread about 5 cups torn into rough 1-inch pieces, crusts left on
- 1 small head fennel cored and shaved as thinly as possible, fronds saved
- 2 cups arugula loosely packed, baby or wild
The Sage Vinaigrette
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil divided: 1 teaspoon for the grapes, 1 tablespoon for the bread, the rest in the dressing
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
- 1 teaspoon fresh sage minced as finely as you can manage
- 1/2 teaspoon honey or maple syrup to keep it vegan
- 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt divided between the grapes, the bread and the dressing
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper divided
Instructions
Roast the Grapes
- Heat the oven to 400F. Toss the grapes on an unlined sheet pan with 1 teaspoon of the olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and a little pepper, spreading them out so no grape touches another.
- Roast 20 to 25 minutes, checking from 15, until the grapes are wrinkled and collapsed on one side but still plump enough to burst. Do not take them as far as raisins or you lose the juice you roasted them for.
Toast the Bread
- Tear the bread into rough 1-inch pieces. Toss on a second pan with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt and a little pepper.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes, alongside the grapes, until the pieces are dry all the way through and the edges are lightly browned. Soft centers are what turns a bread salad to paste.
Make the Vinaigrette
- Whisk the vinegar, minced sage and honey together and leave them to sit for 5 minutes so the acid softens the sage. Whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil in a slow stream, then the remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and the rest of the pepper.
- Scrape every bit of sticky juice off the grape pan into the vinaigrette and whisk it in. If it has set hard, splash a little of the vinegar onto the warm pan first and it will lift straight off.
Toss and Serve
- Tip the warm bread, the grapes and the shaved fennel into a wide bowl and toss with about three quarters of the vinaigrette. Let it stand 5 minutes so the bread takes on the dressing.
- Fold the arugula through with the last of the vinaigrette and serve at room temperature within about half an hour, scattered with any fennel fronds.
Notes
Bread: an open-crumbed rustic loaf, two or three days stale. Soft sandwich bread collapses into paste. Dry it right through in the oven even if it is already stale.
Scrape the grape pan. The sticky juices are the best part of the vinaigrette and most people throw them away.
Dress warm, add the leaves cold. Warm bread absorbs the vinaigrette; warm bread also wilts arugula on contact, so it goes in last.
Hold back a quarter of the vinaigrette. You can always add more, and over-dressing is the usual reason a bread salad goes soggy.
Make-ahead: bread 2 days in a paper bag, roasted grapes and vinaigrette 3 days in the refrigerator. Assemble in five minutes.
Vegan: use maple syrup in place of the honey.
Nutrition values are an estimate.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 232kcal | Carbohydrates: 26g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Sodium: 478mg | Potassium: 302mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 700IU | Vitamin C: 12mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 1mg