Pantesca Salad
Ingredients
2 servings
Step-by-step recipe
Potatoes and vegetables
It is not difficult to make Pantesca salad at home. You can use small tomatoes or large ones, whichever is in season. Buy salted capers, which work best, and green olives, preferably pitted and unstuffed. Use sweet, crisp red onion and young green basil.
Boil the potatoes. You can use “new” or “old” potatoes, depending on the season.
Peel new potatoes and boil them in salted water until a knife slides easily into the potato, then let them cool. If the potatoes are not very large, you can use them whole, which looks even nicer. Boil old potatoes in their skins and cool them in cold water. Then peel them and cut into large cubes.
Put the cooled potatoes in a large salad bowl. Add a tablespoon of capers (10 g) and the olives. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the bowl. Cut large tomatoes into big cubes; you do not need to peel them or remove the seeds. Salt the salad and season with freshly ground black pepper. Also add 1–2 pinches of dried oregano.
Add the onion and basil. Peel the sweet red onion and cut it into very thin strips or rings. If the onion is a little sharp, soak it in ice water for 5–10 minutes, then squeeze it lightly; the sharpness will be much milder. Pick the leaves off the basil sprigs, leaving one sprig for garnish, and tear them into pieces with your fingers. Add the onion and basil to the bowl and toss the salad so all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
Dressing
Dress the salad. In a small bowl or cup, mix 2–3 tbsp of olive oil, the best you have, with white wine vinegar. The proportions of oil and vinegar are up to you. Whisk the mixture with a fork, pour it over the vegetables and toss. The appetizer is ready to serve.
Serving
Divide the salad among small bowls and garnish with a sprig of basil. For serving, I recommend adding a few pieces of mackerel in oil, a common canned fish. Saury or sardines will do too. Since the salad was once served with dried fish, I think a piece of cold-smoked mackerel would also be excellent.
As a variation, you can use black olives in the salad. It will look a little different, but it will still taste good. Tuna or even fried fish will also work, and such versions are sometimes found. They say even fried chicken goes well with it.
Calories and macros
485 kcal
Serving ≈ 550 g
- Protein8 g7% of kcal
- Fat26 g49% of kcal
- Carbs51 g44% of kcal
100 g88 kcalProtein 1.5 gFat 4.6 gCarbs 9.2 g
Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.