BLT Panzanella with Lardo Vinaigrette
What words in the English language have not already been penned extolling the culinary transcendence of the perennially adored combination of bacon, lettuce, and tomato? And what is there to improve upon in the gustatory genius of panzanella, a salad where the very building blocks are bread? What, I ask you, if we SMASHED these ideas together, but rather than tomato juice flowing between the crags of toasted bread and summer-ripe tomatoes, we fried up some guanciale or bacon, then emulsified the rendered fat into a vinaigrette of piquant lemon juice and the very drops of summertime - the juices of the ripened tomatoes that will then go on to form the umami backbone of the salad. Now THAT would be a recipe worthy of the lineage of the long esteemed BLT and panzanella.
A few notes - why all this fuss about an emulsified vinaigrette in a panzanella? An emulsified dressing, particularly this one that is a water-in-oil emulsion, means that the water droplets are suspended into the oil droplets that are created when whisking or blending. This fat clings to the components of the salad quite well, and allows for maintenance of crispy and crunchy textures for longer - as water, not oil or fat is the enemy of crunch. For the bread, rather than stale bread, this recipe calls for fresh. I particularly enjoy the contrast between pillowy soft interior and crunchy fried exterior, but if you have stale bread, go for it. In this spirit of the Italian cucina povera, this recipe makes use of the salted tomato juice AND the rendered guanciale fat. I prefer guanciale because of how crispy it gets, but you can of course use bacon or pancetta. Please make this and feed it to yourself and all your friends.
BLT PANZANELLA WITH LARDO VIN
2 lb beautiful tomatoes
8 oz guanciale OR bacon OR pancetta
5 cups bread, cubed (about half a boule)
1/2 cup rendered bacon fat
1 cup basil leaves
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tomato juice, from your beautiful tomatoes
1 romaine head, torn into bite sized pieces
1 tsp dijon mustard
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp honey
1 garlic clove (microplaned, or finely minced)
dried sicilian oregano (optional)
SALT
Olive oil, for frying
DIRECTIONS:
Core tomatoes, and slice into large bite-size pieces that make you happy. Place into a strainer fitted over a bowl, and sprinkle 1 tsp salt over top, coating all the tomatoes.
Dice your guanciale (or bacon or pancetta) into half inch dice. Place into a pan over medium high heat, and cook until the pieces are all crispy and the fat is rendered. Remove guanciale from the pan, and save ½ cup of rendered fat, leaving the solids in the pan to be deposed of.
Cut the bread into 1 inch cubes. Heat a shallow pan, to medium, then add olive oil until you have about 1 cm in depth. Add diced bread, (in batches if necessary) and fry until all sides are GOLDEN BROWN & DELICIOUS. Remove from pan and test aside to cool.
By now, your tomatoes should have expelled some of their tasty juices into the bowl below the colander. Measure out 2 tbsp of the juice into a bowl along with the 2 tbsp lemon juice, garlic, dijon, honey, black pepper and one pinch salt.
Using a whisk or an immersion blender, rapidly mix the bowl of tomato & lemon juice while slowly drizzling in the still warm fat until a creamy, smooth, and emulsified dressing forms.
Assemble the salad by layering all of the lettuce, tomatoes, and bread, and most of the crispy guanciale and basil. Drizzle the dressing over top, then add extra guanciale, basil, a dusting of oregano and drizzle of olive oil.
EAT!
