TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Acquasale PugliesePugliese Bread and Summer Vegetable Acquasale
A traditional Pugliese peasant dish of stale bread moistened with water and combined with ripe tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and oregano.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
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Ingredients (4 servings)
- FriselleStale country bread may also be used200 g
- TomatoesFully ripe; cut into 2 cm cubes400 g
- CucumberPeel in alternating strips and cut into half-moons1
- Red onionSlice very thinly1
- Dried oregano1 tsp
- Extra virgin olive oil60 ml
- Salt4 g
Method
Moisten the bread
- 1 Put 200 g friselle in a large bowl and pour 200 ml cold water evenly over them to moisten.
Ready when
Once the water has reached all the bread, leave it to stand and continue.
Cut the vegetables
- 1 Remove the stems from 400 g tomatoes and cut into 2 cm cubes, retaining their juice.
- 2 Peel 1 cucumber in alternating strips and cut into 5 mm thick half-moons.
- 3 Slice 1/2 red onion very thinly along the grain.
- 4 When you have finished cutting, check the bread: continue when its surface is moist but the inside still has a little bite.
- 5 Meanwhile(While the bread absorbs the water.)
Combine
- 1 Break the moistened bread into bite-sized pieces by hand. In the same bowl, add the tomatoes and their juice, cucumber, red onion, 1 tsp dried oregano, 4 g salt and 60 ml extra virgin olive oil; toss with broad movements.
Ready when
Continue when the tomato juice and oil coat the bread and everything begins to take on a faint red tint.
Let the flavors meld
- 1 Leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.
Ready when
It is ready when the bread has absorbed the tomato juices and is moist and soft, just short of falling apart.
About this dish
Acquasale originated as lunch for people working in the fields and at sea in Puglia. Its name means “water and salt” and embodies the southern Italian wisdom of thrift: bringing stale bread back to life by moistening it with water.
In summer, chopped field tomatoes, cucumber and red onion are combined with rehydrated bread and drizzled with olive oil to make a dish requiring no heat. Farmers shared it in the shade of trees to get through the fierce midday heat.
Once regarded as a sign of poverty, the dish now holds its own on the summer menus of farm stays and trattorias, alongside the renewed appreciation of cucina povera, the cooking of ordinary people. Few appetizers express a Pugliese summer so simply.
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