Bagel Panzanella

Ingredients

• 6 sesame bagels, or everything or onion or whatever you love, gluten-free if you want
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 medium heirloom tomatoes
• Flaky sea salt
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 2 big garlic cloves, grated
• ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoons caraway seeds
• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds (see notes)
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• ½ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• ¼ cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Use a serrated knife to split the bagels and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Arrange on the baking sheet and toss with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Slide the baking sheet into the oven and set a timer for 5 minutes. Check to see if they’re nicely toasted and maybe give them 2 more minutes.
3. While the bagels toast, use the serrated knife again to chop the tomatoes into 1-inch cubes. Pour the tomatoes and all their juices into a large bowl and blanket them with flaky salt to coax out all that good juice. If you don’t have flaky salt, just use what you have around. But salt those tomatoes well!
4. In a small skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over low heat. When the oil easily glides across the skillet, add the shallot, garlic, cumin, caraway, and fennel seeds. Stir until everything is so fragrant you could die, about 1 minute. Immediately scrape that warm mixture over the tomatoes, add the vinegar, and toss. Add the bagel pieces, basil, and parsley and toss again.

Notes

1. Cumin, caraway, and fennel are my holy trinity, but if you only have one or two of the three, that’s okay, too!
2. This really should be made just before leaving the house. Pack the toasted bagel pieces, basil, and parsley separately in an airtight container so you can toss them in when you get there

Recipe(s) reprinted with permission from What Can I Bring? by Casey Elsass © 2025. Published by Union Square & Co., an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group. Photographs by Gentl and Hyers.