Panzanella

Slice the stale bread and cut into cubes of about 2 centimetres; dry in the oven at 130C until dry and crunchy.

Core the tomatoes and cut them by hand over a small salad bowl, to about the size of the bread, keeping all the juice.

Slice the cucumbers not too thin, skin on or off, stack the slices and cut them in half; add to the tomatoes.

Add some basil and mix, with no oil, salt or pepper yet; leave the tomatoes to rest.

Slice the red onion thin, stack the slices, cut in half and separate them.

Soak the onion in a bowl of water with a little white wine vinegar to make it more delicate, 10 minutes or up to overnight.

Put the dried bread in the serving salad bowl, add a little water at a time and mix by hand so it softens but keeps a little crunch.

Spread about 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar around the bread, mix by hand so every piece gets some, and taste.

Let the bread soak the water and vinegar, ideally half an hour; chop some basil into it.

Squeeze the water out of the onion and mix it into the tomatoes by hand.

Add the tomato mixture to the bread a little at a time and mix; add the tomato juice, keeping some back for decoration; season with salt and pepper.

Rest in the fridge at least one hour, two or three even better, or at least two hours out of the fridge; no oil yet.

Just before serving, dress with 4 to 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and dress the reserved fresh ingredients with 3 to 4 more; mix, pile the fresh ingredients in the middle and finish with basil.

Keeps two to three days in the fridge without oil; add the olive oil only before serving.