We are fans of panzanella, and this is our fourth recipe of the year. The others:

 
Panzanella is a Tuscan-style bread salad made with a loaf of day-old (or older) bread, cubed into large croutons and tossed with vinaigrette or other dressing to soften it. The translation we have found for “panzanella” is “bread in a swamp,” the swamp being the water or vinaigrette in which it was soaked.

While Italian loaves are used in the original, you can use any bread from baguette to challah to semolina raisin to sourdough. Chopped salad vegetables are then added.

In this recipe, adapted from one by Annie of Annie’s Eats for Go Bold With Butter, a protein is added to make it into a luncheon salad. Annie (and we) use grilled chicken; we also like grilled salmon. But you can use any protein and it’s a great way to use up leftovers.

Instead of a Chicken Caesar, try a Chicken Panzanella. Photo courtesy GoBoldWithButter.com..

We save time by buying pre-grilled, shrink-wrapped chicken breasts at Trader Joe’s.

RECIPE: GRILLED CHICKEN PANZANELLA

Ingredients For 4-6 Servings

For The Chicken

 
For The Salad

 
*Off-season tomatoes tend to be bland. When tomatoes aren’t in season, you can substitute red bell pepper, grilled red pepper (pimento) or sundried tomatoes.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT a grill to medium-high heat. While the grill is heating, make the marinade.

2. COMBINE the lemon juice, canola oil, salt, pepper and garlic in a medium bowl. Stir well to combine. Add the chicken pieces to the marinade, mixing briefly to coat. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes. Meanwhile…

3. PREPARE the bread slices. Combine the butter, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl and mix until evenly combined. Spread a thin layer of the garlic butter on both sides of each slice of bread.

4. GRILL the chicken on the heated grill until browned on the outside, turning once. The internal temperature should register 160°F. Remove the cooked chicken to a plate or cutting board to rest briefly. Meanwhile…

6. CUT up the chicken and the bread into bite-size pieces and add to a large bowl. Add the cucumber, tomatoes and feta; toss gently just until evenly combined. Serve immediately.
 
 
CROUTONS RECIPE

1. PREHEAT oven to 400°F.

2. CUT bread into cubes and place in a large bowl. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. If you like heat, add 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes. Mix well.

3. SPREAD cubes in a single layer on a shallow pan or cookie sheet pan and bake for about 15 minutes, until golden brown.

Ceviche, raw seafood marinated in lime juice with onions and other vegetables, is the national dish of Peru—and our favorite food. But what’s tiradito? Here, ceviche vs. tiradito and a brief history of them.

While the variations in ceviche recipes seem never-ending—there’s a seemingly infinite combination of seafood, vegetables, and marinade recipes—Peruvian chefs have taken the concept further.

They’ve created tiradito, a dish of raw fish similar to carpaccio, ceviche, crudo, and sashimi, but garnished with a piquant or spicy sauce.

It reflects the influence of Japanese immigrants on Peruvian cookery. It also differs from ceviche in the way in which the fish is cut (sashimi-style slices) and in the lack of onions.

The fish can also be lightly seared.

Both are typically served as a first course. Cool and refreshing, they are ideal summer dishes but delicious year-round (not to mention easy to make, healthful and low in calories).

The classic tiradito sauce is made from citrus juice and a zesty paste of aji amarillo, made from the Peruvian yellow chile pepper (Capsicum baccatum) plus seasonings—grated garlic or ginger, salt, and pepper.

Of course, chefs can create a myriad of sauces with other ingredients.

Unlike ceviche, the fish isn’t marinated in the sauce; the sauce is used as a dressing—think sashimi with sauce and garnishes. Common garnishes include sweet potato and jumbo white corn kernels, both native to Peru.

The key to both dishes is the freshest fish. Ask your fishmonger what’s best.

> A recipe for Fish Tiradito (using the fish of your choice) is below.
 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CEVICHE & TIRADITO

In South America, marinated raw fish dishes date to pre-Colombian times, when seafood was “cooked” (acid-cured) with a fruit called tumbo (Passiflora tarminina, a relative of passionfruit).

The Incas cured fish in salt and fermented corn.

In the 16th century, the Spaniards arrived with lemons for the marinade, creating modern ceviche: cubed or sliced, lightly marinated raw fish.
Here’s a longer history.

Recently, a variation has morphed into tiradito, cutting the fish sashimi-style and adding a spicy dressing.

Tiradito derives from the Spanish verb tirar, which means to throw—throwing together raw fish with a sauce.
 

[1] While ceviche is often served in a coquille (scallop) shell, you can serve it in a rocks glass, A Martini glass, or whatever you like (photo © Seviche Restaurant | Louisville).

[2] An avocado stuffed with red snapper ceviche. Here’s the recipe (photo © Avocados From Mexico).

[4] Ahi tuna tiradito with chili oil and sour orange juice (photo © Añejo Tribeca | NYC).

RECIPE: TIRADITO DE PESCADO (photo #3)

Here’s a tiradito recipe from Peru Delights. Prep time is 20 minutes.

Look for the aji amarillo paste in supermarkets with a large Latin American products section (Goya makes it), at a Latin American grocer, or online.

If you can’t get hold of it, use a mixture of fresh yellow bell peppers and serrano chilies to approximate the hot and fruity flavor of the aji amarillo.

Ingredients For 4 Servings

 
Preparation

1. SLICE the fish fillet very thin and divide among four plates. Sprinkle with salt.

2. COMBINE lime juice in a bowl with the aji amarillo paste, diced chile, garlic, ginger, olive oil, salt and pepper. Spoon over the fish to cover.

3. TOP each portion with two sweet potato slices, cover with microgreens and serve, chilled or room temperature.
 
 
MORE CEVICHE RECIPES

Before there was the cronut, there was the scuffin. Necessity was the mother of invention.

Some five years ago, Frog Hollow Farm began to make frozen purées from fruit that wasn’t cosmetically attractive enough to sell to consumers. They then set about creating products from the purées, and the winner was the scuffin.

What sounds like a cross between a scone and a muffin is actually a triple hybrid, which includes the center of a jelly donut— substituting conserve, jam or preserve for the jelly. (Here are the differences between jelly, jam, conserve, etc.)

A hearty, sconelike dough formed into a muffin shape, a scuffin is more dense than a muffin, with a texture that goes from a crisp exterior and crumbly scone interior to center of smooth fruit filling, made from the purée. It eliminates the need to choose between a scone and a muffin. They can be breakfast bread, snack or dessert.

Served at the Frog Hollow Café in San Fransicso’s Ferry Building, the scuffin was an instant hit. The whole grain flour and flaxseeds, add healthful elements and a nuttiness that pairs well with the jam.

RECIPE: SCUFFINS

Ingredients For 12 Scuffins

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a microwave or over very gentle heat. Using a pastry brush, butter the cups of a standard-size 12-cup muffin tin (3-1/2-ounce-capacity). Let each coat of butter cool, then apply another coat; continue until the 2 tablespoons are all used.

2. COMBINE dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, add to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until just combined.

3. WHISK together the egg, milk and cream in another bowl. Add to the dry ingredients and mix to combine (the dough will be quite sticky).

4. RESERVING about a quarter of the dough for topping, scoop 2 tablespoons dough into each cup. Using the back of a spoon, press the dough gently down into the cups. The dough will move up the sides, and there should be a shallow well in each dough cup. Don’t worry if the dough doesn’t come all the way up to the top; there should be about 1/2 inch of space between the top of the dough and the rim of the cup.

6. BAKE 20 to 25 minutes, or until browned. Let cool in the pan on a rack; run a blade around the sides of each scuffin before turning out.

Variations

September 21st is National Pecan Cookie Day and June 23rd is National Pecan Sandy day, probably the most popular pecan cookie, modeled after the French sablé.

A shortbread-like butter cookie with a sandy texture, sablé means “sand” in French and refers to both the color and the texture of the cookies.

The cookies originated in the Normandy region of France and are a very popular tea cookie. Common variations include chocolate and lemon sablés.

In some sandy recipes, the dough is lighter than traditional dense, buttery shortbread. A pecan sandy is simply the shortbread with chopped pecans added to the dough, or a pecan half embellishment on the top of the cookie.

This recipe is courtesy Taste Of Home. Prep time is 10 minutes, total time is 55 minutes.

Ingredients For 18 Cookies

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Grease a baking sheet.

2. CREAM in a bowl the butter and sugar; stir in the vanilla. Add the flour and mix on low until well blended. Stir in the pecans; mix well. Chill for 30 minutes.

3. ROLL into 1-inch balls and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes or until bottom edges are golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
 
 
CHECK OUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF COOKIES IN OUR COOKIE GLOSSARY.
  

The recipe uses Havarti from Wisconsin, but you can substitute another cheese of choice. Suggestions: Mozzarella, Monterey Jack, Tilsit or for a stronger flavor, Muenster, Port du Salut or Reblochon. (Check out our Cheese Glossary.)

RECIPE: CHEESE STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

2. ARRANGE half of bread cubes in lightly buttered 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Top evenly with Havarti; top with remaining bread cubes.

3. WHISK together the eggs, milk, sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, butter and maple syrup in large mixing bowl; pour over bread mixture, pressing bread cubes to absorb egg mixture. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon over the top. Cover baking pan with foil.

4. BAKE for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 30 more minutes or until lightly browned and set. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

5. MAKE the sauce. Stir together blueberries and blueberry preserves in a small saucepan over low heat until warm. Serve over the French toast or on the side.