Winter Panzanella Recipe – By Carl Legge

Ingredients

Croutons:

300g old bread roughly broken into bite-sized pieces

Extra virgin olive oil

A small handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese or other hard cheese

Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

Roast vegetables:

500g or so butternut squash or other winter squash or pumpkin, peeled

2 medium carrots, scrubbed, topped & tailed

6 or more cloves garlic, peeled and left whole or cut into chunks

1 or more red onion, peeled

Big handful mushrooms

Extra virgin olive oil

Red wine vinegar

A large pinch of chilli flakes

1 tbsp crushed coriander seeds

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tsp sea salt flakes

A good grind of black pepper

More:

A big handful of winter salad leaves, cultivated or foraged, torn or shredded. I used chickweed

A quarter of a red cabbage, shredded finely

125g grilled halloumi cut into chunks.

Some pea shoots or fresh herbs to garnish

Dressing:

Red wine vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 180-200°C.

Pop the bread chunks into a bowl and pour over some of your olive oil, throw in the grated parmesan and season with a little salt & pepper. Mix well so the croutons are well coated. Add some more olive oil if you need it to coat the cubes well.

Cut the squash and carrots into bite sized pieces. Cut the onions into narrow wedges.

Pop the squash, carrots, garlic and mushrooms into a bowl. Glug over some olive oil and vinegar. Sprinkle over the chilli flakes and crushed seeds. Mix well so that the vegetables are well covered. Tip these vegetables onto a solid roasting tray and place in the oven for 20-40 minutes until the vegetables are just tender to the point of a knife.

Take out the roasted vegetables and put them to one side. Pop the croutons in the oven for 20 minutes or so until they are brown and crispy. You can turn off the oven after 10 minutes or so and let them cook in the residual heat of the oven.

Combine the roasted vegetables, croutons, salad leaves and shredded cabbage in a big bowl or server. Mix well and sprinkle over some red wine vinegar (about 30ml or to taste), glug over some olive oil to coat (and not drown) the ingredients. Season to taste with sea salt & freshly ground black pepper. Garnish with the halloumi chunks and pea shoots.

Serve and enjoy your feast.

PS: Carl Legge is Emily Devoto’s friend and credits for this recipe go to him. Carl is a smallholder in Wales. Here is a link to his blog: www.carllegge.com