Pane Cotto with Swiss Chard: Italian Goodness in 30-Minutes or Less (Vegan Options)
Have a loaf of dried-out crusty bread lying around your kitchen? Don’t toss it. Instead, chop it up into chunks and toss it into the oven to make croutons for salads or dishes like my Pane Cotto with Swiss Chard. It’s healthy, quick, and easy to make, and TASTY. You can have it on the table in 30-minutes or less.
In Italian, Pane Cotto or pancotto literally translates into baked bread. But it’s also used to describe an effortless and delicious Italian soup (more like a stew in my opinion) using old Italian bread and beans. And it’s a dish I LOVE making and serving up to my friends and family.
Strangely enough, while we did eat plenty of Panzanella and Pappa al Pomodoro in Italy, two more dishes using stale bread, I did not eat or learn to make this dish there. It’s something I picked up in Portugal while looking for recipes to use with Swiss chard.
How to Make the Croutons
Now, I don’t know about you but I love a good crouton on a salad. And Pane Cotto would not be Pane Cotto without the croutons. So, here’s how to make them for either dish.
While you can use any fresh crusty bread, I really don’t recommend it. Croutons are better made with dried-out, slightly stale bread that you wouldn’t want to eat as fresh bread. After all, you’re drying out the bread when you toast it in the oven.
Chop up your bread into squares based on the size you want. For Pane Cotto, you want large chunks, at least one inch (3 cm) in size or larger. Place the chunks into a large bowl and then liberally pour on olive oil and season with sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, dried chili flakes to taste, and dried herbs like oregano, Italian seasoning, basil, thyme, or whatever your favorite herb is. Toss to coat and then spread evenly onto a baking sheet.
Pop the sheet into the oven under the broiler. Make sure to keep a close eye on your bread once it goes into the oven, turning often to avoid burning the toasting pieces. They do brown up quickly. Once the bread is golden brown, remove and set aside to cool down or until you need it for topping the Pane Cotto. If using for salad croutons, cooling completely, then store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two or three weeks.
Substitutions in the Pane Cotto
Don’t like or have Swiss chard? Don’t worry. You can use kale, beet greens, collards, zucchini, even spinach, or your favorite seasonal vegetable that will work being cooked, in the place of the Swiss chard.
The same with the beans. Don’t have cannellini beans? Use any white bean or kidney, pintos, or cranberry beans. While it’s traditional to use the cannellini beans in Italy, this dish is not fussy about which bean you use. I’m not sure I would substitute chickpeas into this dish due to the texture, but also haven’t tried it either.
I also tend to make my own beans using dried beans. When I do, I use the bean juice in the place of the broth in the Pane Cotto recipe. It adds so much more flavor and deliciousness to the dish because I use fresh bay leaf and chicken stock in my beans. But if you’re using canned ones to speed things up, please rinse and drain and use the broth instead. The bean broth in canned beans often contains additives and preservatives, plus it doesn’t really taste all that good.
Additions
The recipe as given is meatless, but this dish is absolutely delicious when you add pancetta, sausage, bacon, or spicy cured Spanish chorizo to it. Render the meat in the pan as you cook the onions, adding the fat to the dish. I love it just as much this way as I do the vegetarian option, and the hubby and I make it either way. The photos here in this post are of the vegetarian version.
The Pane Cotto Vegan Option
You guys know me well enough to know that I think not eating cheese is a crime, BUT it’s easy to make this dish vegan by leaving out the cheese and any meat if you follow my version with the meat additions. While you’ll lack that cheesy goodness, the dish is still totally YUMMY without the cheese. Also, you’ll use vegetable stock instead of chicken.
And that’s a wrap.
I told you, this dish was easy.
I make this dish quite often in our home because it is so quick, easy, and one of our favorite ways to use Swiss chard. It’s healthy, tasty, and a great way to reduce food waste by using up the old bread. Plus, the hubby loves it.
Let me know in the comments what you think and what ingredients you used. I look forward to hearing your responses.
Pane Cotto with Swiss Chard
Equipment
- Oven-proof pan
Ingredients
- 3 cups crusty bread preferably old/stale, cut or shredded into 1-inch chunks
- ⅓ cup olive oil divided
- 2 tsp dried herbs oregano, Italian seasoning, basil, thyme all work fine
- 1 large white or yellow onion chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 bunch Swiss chard roughly chopped
- 2 cups cannellini beans or beans of your choice (can also use 1 – 15 oz can, rinsed and drained)
- ½ cup white wine Italian or a dry white (can substitute equal amount for stock)
- ½ cup chicken or veggie stock if making your own beans, bean juice can be substituted for stock
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese also good with Pecorino or Grana Padano cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Turn broiler/grill option on the oven.
- Add cut bread to a large bowl, then drizzle with 1/4 cup olive oil and add dried herbs, tossing to coat. Spread the seasoned bread evenly into a baking sheet. Pop into the oven, watching closely as not to burn, turning bread to make golden brown on all sides. Remove from oven and set aside until needed.
- Reduce oven heat to 325 F or around 180 C.
- While croutons are baking, add the remaining olive oil to an oven-proof pan over medium heat. Place chopped onions into the oil, cooking until soft before adding the minced garlic. Add Swiss chard, wine, and chicken stock, cooking until liquids reduce by about a quarter. Add beans and stir to mix. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Then top with toasted croutons, followed by the grated cheese.
- Pop the pan into the oven and bake until the cheese is golden brown and dish is bubbling. Remove from oven and serve immediately.