Cornbread Panzanella, Camp Version
Toasted cornbread cubes, dried tomato, and a sharp vinegar dressing, tossed in the pot you cooked in.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 5 oz
- cal / oz
- 104
- protein
- 8 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 12 min
- total time
- 22 min
- water
- 150 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Campfire coals
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Vegetarian
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Cornbread | 4 cups cubed | baked at home, cut into 1-inch cubes and dried hard in a low oven |
|---|---|---|
| Sun-dried tomatoes | 1/2 cup | dry-packed, not in oil |
| Dried onion flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Extra virgin olive oil | 3 oz | about 6 tbsp, in a leakproof bottle |
| Red wine vinegar | 2 oz | about 4 tbsp |
| Dried thyme and rosemary | 1 tsp total | |
| Dried mint | 1 tsp | |
| Salt and pepper | to taste | |
| Lemon powder or citric acid | 1/4 tsp | optional, stands in for the lemon half |
Method
- Put the sun-dried tomatoes and onion flakes in a mug or bag with about 150 ml of hot water. Let them sit while you do everything else. Fifteen minutes is enough.
- Heat 2 tbsp of the oil in the pot over a low flame. Add the cornbread cubes and the thyme and rosemary. Toss constantly. Cornbread scorches faster than bread does, so keep it moving and pull it at golden.
- Tip the cubes onto a lid or a bandana and set the pot back down.
- Drain the tomatoes and onions, saving a splash of the soaking water. Whisk the remaining oil, the vinegar, the mint, the lemon powder, salt, and pepper into the pot with that splash.
- Return the cornbread and the drained vegetables to the pot. Toss until the cubes are coated but not soaked.
- Wait five minutes before eating. The cubes need that long to soften in the middle.
The original is a leftover-cornbread salad built on fresh tomato, cucumber, yogurt, and steak drippings. None of that survives a night in a pack, so the wet vegetables become dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes and onion flakes rehydrated in hot water, the yogurt is gone, and the drippings are replaced by olive oil carried in a bottle. The vinegar and the dried mint do the work the lemon and fresh herbs used to do.
Cornbread is the weak point. It falls apart when it is damp and it burns when it is hot, which is why it gets dried hard at home, toasted over low heat, and dressed last. The five-minute rest is not optional: the outside of a dried cube takes dressing immediately and the inside takes a while, and eating early gets you a bowl of oily gravel.
Packing
Cornbread cubes go in a rigid container or they arrive as crumbs. Oil and vinegar in separate small bottles, doubled in a zip bag. Tomatoes, onion, and the dried herbs premixed in one bag.
Variations
- A foil pouch of tuna or a can of chickpeas turns the side dish into the meal.
- Swap in a bag of cornbread croutons from the store if you did not bake.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/cornbread-panzanella