stone fruit panzanella and briney celery salad!!

what else do you need????

Hello!

I’ve moved to a farm! (For a little bit!). Which farm? This farm:

Solarpunk Farms

Solarpunk Farms on Instagram: “Tell your bees about us 🫦”

July 9, 2023

I’ve only been here for a day, but so far, I’ve collected some chicken eggs and smelled some flowers, and watched the sunrise (not in that order), so I think I’m gonna like it here.

While I’m here, the plan is to cook some good food, host a few dinners, help out on the farm, and work on that book proposal I’m supposed to be writing. (Again, not in that order.)

I’ve always been a city girl sun and rising with a farm girl moon, and I’m really excited to sink into my little moon phase while I’m out here. It’s hard for me to leave the city because things are always happening! And I love things! I’m famously in the mix, and I hate to not be—but sometimes, it’s important to not be, ya know?

Sometimes, you’ve just gotta send yourself to a farm to look at the sky and breathe fresh air and get a little dirty and sweaty and sunburnt. So here we are! BUT! Before you do those things, it’s important to throw a dinner party for your friends with lots of delicious things so they don’t forget about you while you’re gone (and also so they spend the time you’re away counting down the days till you return so you can cook for them once again).

So, obviously, that’s what I did. I made a stone fruit panzanella, a briney celery salad, a spicy citrus white bean salad, crudité with miso mayo, roasted beets and artichoke hearts with feta, smashed cucumber sesame salad, and, naturally, a spatchcocked chicken.

My gift to you is two of those recipes. My challenge is that I’m not giving you exact measurements! Mostly because I didn’t measure anything and also because I trust and believe in you. It would be impossible to mess any of these things up—I promise!!

stone fruit panzanella: ingredients

• 1 large loaf of sourdough bread

• 2 large peaches

• 2 plums

• 10 cherries (this isn’t an exact amount, I just had some cherries and wanted to use them up!)

• 1 shallot

• probably like half a cup of torn basil

• like a quarter cup of torn mint

• 2/3 (roughly!) cup watermelon vinegar (I had watermelon! you can use red wine, rice, celery, or any other light-ish fruity vinegar!)

• 1/3 (roughly!) cup olive oil

• lots of kosher salt and black pepper

stone fruit panzanella: method

1. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees

2. TEAR THE BREAD INTO BITE-SIZED PIECES! This is very important! Cutting gives you nice straight edges that don’t absorb and hold things as well as the craggy edges do when you tear it. So tear it! Then spread it evenly on a baking sheet and let it sit in the oven for 45 minutes or so. You’re not actually baking it so much as your dehydrating it and letting it get very, very crunchy.

3. Pit your stone fruit (this is the best way, ty dan!!) and cut it into shapes that please you and are roughly the same size as the bread. Thinly slice your shallot. If you want, you can chop or tear your herbs at this point, too, so all the prep work is done.

4. In a large bowl (the one you’ll serve in!), toss the stone fruit, shallot, vinegar, and a big pinch (probably a tablespoon or so) of salt together and let it sit. After half an hour, taste it! It should be extremely tart and salty.

5. Once the bread is dried out and CRISPY CRUNCHY, pull it out of the oven and let it cool for, like, five minutes. Add the olive oil, herbs, and lots of black pepper to the stone fruit and vinegar, then the bread, and toss toss toss toss toss. I use my hands, but you do you mama.

6. Once the vinegar and oil are mostly absorbed, taste it! Is it dry? Add a bit more oil and vinegar (vinegar first!). Salt? Pepper? You know what you like! Garnish with a bit more torn basil or mint or both (or whatever herbs you’ve got!), and enjoy.

briney celery: ingredients

• 1 head of celery

• 1 bulb of fennel

• 1 shallot

• 5 oz unpitted castelvetrano olives (this is basically my way of saying half a jar—also, while unpitted are preferred, they are not mandatory!! I think the texture is (much) better when you pit them yourself and it’s not hard!)

• 1/4 cup olive bring (roughly!)

• 2 tbsps capers (roughly!)

• 2 tbsp caper brine (roughly!)

• 2 lemons (zest and juice)

• a handful of dill or parsley or both

• lots of salt and freshly ground black pepper

briney celery: method

1. Thinly slice the celery and fennel, and reserve some of the leaves and fronds for garnish! I like to slice on a bias because it makes for slightly larger lengths and because it makes them look nice but don’t stress about it. Thinly slice the shallot too.

2. Tear your olives. Using the broad side of your knife, press down on the olive to flatten it, and then tear out the pit. If using a knife isn’t the vibe, you can use a measuring cup or a glass or whatever you feel most comfortable with.

3. Chop your herb.

4. Add celery, fennel, shallot, olives, capers, herbs, oil, brines, salt, and pepper (everything but the lemon!) to a big bowl. Zest your lemons into the bowl and then cut them in half and add the juice of both.

5. Mix it up! I like to do this right before I serve. Unlike many things, I don’t think this benefits from “sitting” or “marinating.” So chop and dice, and if you’re waiting a while, just dress right before you serve! Taste it! Season as necessary! Enjoy!

I hope you’re having a beautiful day and that you feel brave and powerful and inspired to just put seasonal ingredients in bowls and season them well and eat!

Love you bye,

Garrett