More than a Loaf
From Tuscany to Zuni Café, creating magic from stale bread. Plus a rosé for an endless summer.
I was in my early twenties when I first learned that a salad made of stale bread could be a revelation. Not far out of college, my friends and I were too poor to afford a ticket to Tuscany but had enough for a splurgy dinner at San Francisco’s Zuni Café. Judy Rogers, the executive chef, had just published the Zuni Café Cookbook and her recipes were buzzing around all corners of food media. Improbably and perhaps thanks to that cookbook, the recipe for which the restaurant is best known some 44 years after it first opened, is made from a piece of bread that most people would throw out.
On the menu at Zuni Café the dish is listed as a chicken for two people roasted in a wood fired oven, but it is the warm salad served alongside, a California reimagining of a Tuscan panzanella that has made this dish a classic. In the salad hand-torn days old bread is tossed with scallions, garlic, bitter greens, pine nuts and currants and dressed in a champagne vinaigrette. At that first dinner I remember digging beneath the chicken to spear hunks of bread, fragrant with alliums, chewy, bitter and crunchy, an experience on its own while also acting as sponge, soaking up the smokey juices of the chicken. It was a textural flavor bomb.
In Italy, panzanella was originally little more than stale bread topped with a water and vinegar mixture and perhaps a slice of onion - Italian peasant food in its purest form. In some ways, the dish was the perfect canvas for showcasing the concept of California cuisine. Firmly in the vanguard of the movement, Judy Rogers today might not have the global name recognition of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse or have spun out her popularity to TV appearances and frozen pizza to like Wolfgang Puck, but the influence of her restaurant, is undeniable. Trained in France and well-traveled throughout Italy, Judy took her experiences, including a stint at Chez Panisse, added a wood-fired oven, and created her own version of seasonal ingredient-driven Mediterranean cooking.
The Zuni Café bread salad could presumably be made of any bitter greens in season, no doubt one reason you always find the roast chicken on the menu. At home, you could make it in the summer with fresh tomatoes and cucumber like you would find in many Tuscan trattoria, or, come winter, toss in roasted root vegetables. Place it under a roast chicken, like Rogers, and the bread soaks up the chicken drippings, almost like a stuffing. Put it out for unch on its own or top it with grilled shrimp or torn mozzarella for a more substantial supper. Whatever the season, or accompaniment, the key is the bread, forgotten for a day or two, until it is dry enough to be utterly unpleasant eaten on its own, in other words, perfect.
I don’t remember the chicken itself at Zuni Café (I’m sure it was delicious) but since that meal I never looked at a loaf of bread the same way. An unfinished loaf is no longer a waste, but a gift, waiting for transformation in the days to come with whatever ingredients are on hand - for a young cook, a lesson that has proved timeless.
Recipe
Summer Vegetable Panzanella
½ lb. Country Loaf (2 -3 days old), crusts removed, cut in ½ inch cubes
2 T. red wine vinegar
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 medium cucumber, thinly sliced
2 medium carrots, peeled, thinly sliced
1 lb. ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 scallions, thinly sliced on a diagonal
12 basil leaves, torn
6 T. olive oil
Prepare the bread. If it is not dry enough, you can give the cubes a very quick turn under the broiler. Dip your hands in water and flick the bread cubes to lightly sprinkle, or give them a couple of squirts with a spray bottle if you have one. Whisk the red wine vinegar with the salt and pepper, let sit while you prepare the vegetables. Now might be the time to use a mandolin if you have one, to get the carrot and cucumber slices very thin. Otherwise use a sharp knife and enjoy the knife skills practice. Place all veggies and basil in a large salad bowl. Slowly whisk the olive oil into the vinegar until it is emulsified. Pour about 2/3 of the vinaigrette over the vegetables and toss to combine. It will seem like it is heavily dressed. Now gently toss in the bread cubes. Taste a soaked piece of bread. Add more dressing, salt or pepper as desired. Serve at room temperature.
To Drink…
Scribe Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir, Sonoma Valley, California 2022
When Scribe Winery first launched I really didn’t want to like it. It was a bit too hipster for my taste and the gushing coverage for a brand new winery carried an unpleasant whiff of insider privilege (Andrew Mariani, one of the founders, used to date Alice Waters’ daughter).
But… I have a soft spot for wines from this corner of Sonoma. My grandfather lives close by and I have driven and run and cycled the roads by these vineyards for years. Through drought and wild fires this region remains, at its core, a place of farmers and vintners very much connected to the land.
Most, importantly, the wines at Scribe are good and in the affordable range for most wine drinkers. I came across a bottle of the 2022 Estate Rosé of Pinot Noir at Vino Carta, a fantastic wine bar in San Diego. Peachy pink in the glass, fresh with salty strawberry in the mouth and wonderful texture, it is a rosé that will make you want to keep summer going a little while longer.
$40 a bottle at Vino Carta or direct from the winery.