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Overloading the Machine

Panzanella

Based on The Boston Globe Magazine, 2005 June 19.

Serves 4.

The classic Italian salad panzanella combines toasted bread, ripe tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, and basil, which make an ideal summer dish.

4 thick slices crusty Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon water
4 ripe tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
2 pickling cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup Kalamata or other black olives, pitted and halved
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 handful basil leaves, stemmed and torn coarsely

Set the oven at 350 degrees. Spread the bread cubes in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet. Toast them in the oven, turning occasionally, for 20 minutes or until the bread is dried out. Let the bread cubes cool to room temperature. Transfer them to a large bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together the vinegar and water. Sprinkle the mixture over the bread and toss well.

Add the tomatoes, onion, cucumbers, and olives. Toss again.

Sprinkle the mixture with oil, salt, and pepper. Add the basil leaves and toss again. Serve at ance.

The Least Perceptive Literary Critic The most important critic in our field of study is Lord Halifax. A most individual judge of poetry, he once invited Alexander Pope round to give a public reading of his latest poem. Pope, the leading poet of his day, was greatly surprised when Lord Halifax stopped him four or five times and said, "I beg your pardon, Mr. Pope, but there is something in that passage that does not quite please me." Pope was rendered speechless, as this fine critic suggested sizeable and unwise emendations to his latest masterpiece. "Be so good as to mark the place and consider at your leisure. I'm sure you can give it a better turn." After the reading, a good friend of Lord Halifax, a certain Dr. Garth, took the stunned Pope to one side. "There is no need to touch the lines," he said. "All you need do is leave them just as they are, call on Lord Halifax two or three months hence, thank him for his kind observation on those passages, and then read them to him as altered. I have known him much longer than you have, and will be answerable for the event." Pope took his advice, called on Lord Halifax and read the poem exactly as it was before. His unique critical faculties had lost none of their edge. "Ay", he commented, "now they are perfectly right. Nothing can be better."

-- Stephen Pile, "The Book of Heroic Failures"

This page was last modified on 2011 December 20.