Yes, yes, I know it’s Monday, not Sunday, so why am I posting a Sunday brunch recipe? Well, firstly, because yesterday was Sunday, which was the day I cooked and photographed this, and secondly, because I wanted to give you plenty of time to wind this recipe into your weekly shopping, so that you can make it this coming weekend.
It’s a lovely, easy one to make, a Sunday brunch special which can be quickly thrown together and when it comes to being served, the messier, the better. It doesn’t require very much forethought or planning which combined with a little bit of leftover, stale bread you can create this unique twist on either Panzanella, or poached eggs on toast, depending on how you look at things. Maybe poached eggs on panzanella?
Make sure you go in heavy with the dressing as this recipe really needs the lemon and oil, so use a good sized lemon and be generous with the olive oil, especially if you use the larger amount of bread. Those dried chunks of bread are your sponges for flavour and need that liquid dressing to lively themselves up. For an additional little kick start I’ve thrown in a chilli, including seeds, but if you want to remove the biggest hit then I would suggest de-seeding it. It also benefited from a really good dose of seasoning when ready to eat.
So, this weekend, whilst one of you does the ever-important job of keeping the bed warm, the other can quickly rustle this dish up and get the Sunday papers ready, because I think it might well be breakfast in bed time!
Brunch-style smoked salmon panzanella
By Gavin Wren
Serves 2
Uses 1 pot
PDF recipe card to download or print
Ingredients
2-3 slices of stale bread, cut into 1cm chunks and left somewhere warm to dry out.
120g smoked salmon, chopped into small pieces
Small bunch of dill, roughly chopped (I used a 25g pack from the supermarket)
1 red chilli, sliced (de-seeded if you prefer it mild)
1 large lemon, zest and juice
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 eggs, as fresh as possible
Directions
Mix the bread, salmon, dill and chilli and spread out over two plates. Mix together the lemon zest and juice with the olive oil and season well, then pour over the bread mixture on the plates.
Break the eggs very gently into the water. The fresher the eggs, the more likely they are to maintain a good shape. Leave for about 3 minutes then carefully remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, making sure they are cooked, before placing on top of the bread mixture. If they are undercooked, return to the water for a minute or so.
Season to taste before eating.