Pappa Al Pomodoro

Life is like a soup and I am a fork…

no problem if the soup is a pappa al pomodoro. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like to dip bread in his soup. Pappa al pomodoro is in some ways the ultimate consequence of that. To put it simply, you put so much old, dry bread into a tomato soup that you can eat it with a fork. So if you like tomato soup and love to dip your bread in it, pappa al pomodoro is the right thing for you!

The dish originally comes from Tuscany, more precisely from the region around Siena and, as so often in its creation, was a meal for poor people to use leftovers. Therefore there is not one recipe or one way of preparing it. Everyone does it a little bit different according to their personal taste. In restaurants it is sometimes served slightly warm as a little forepeak or greeting from the kitchen.

Ingredients (2 servings):

500 g tomatoes
400 ml cegetable broth
300 g old and dry bread
2 gloves of garlic
olive oil
basil
Salt
Pepper

Preparation:

Unfortunately, it is not as easy as a tomato soup with bread in it, but not really difficult either…

First the tomatoes have to be peeled. For this a pot with water is brought to a boil. The tomatoes are cut crosswise at one end and then put into the boiling water for a few seconds until the skin starts to peel off. Take the tomatoes out and remove the skin completely. But be careful, the tomatoes are hot!
Then gently crush the peeled tomatoes.
In a pan, brown two cloves of garlic in plenty of olive oil. Depending on the taste, the garlic can then be taken out or cooked until the end.
Then put the tomatoes in the pan and cook them at medium to high heat for a few minutes. Then cover the pan with a lid and let the tomatoes simmer on low heat.
Now heat the vegetable stock (not until it boils) and cut the bread into small pieces.
When the vegetable broth is warm, soak the bread briefly in it, squeeze it lightly and add it to the tomatoes in the pan.
Stir well and simmer for another 15 minutes.
If the vegetable stock gets too dry, add a little bit of the remaining vegetable stock and stir it often so that nothing burns.
After about half of the time add the basil.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Tips…

If you want to leave the garlic in it longer, take it out before the bread is added. Because it can hide very well between the bread.
Pappa al pomodoro tastes better when it has cooled down a bit, so don’t eat it too hot.