Pappa al pomodoro

Pappa al pomodoro

Pappa al pomodoro is a Tuscan bread soup with tomato.

Do you have leftovers of old bread? Don't throw them away. Perfect for a pappa al pomodoro!

Ingredients for Pappa al Pomodoro:

serves 4:

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil

1lb - 460 grams of stale bread in cubes / pieces

26 oz - 750 grams of ripe tomatoes

1 stalk of celery

3 cloves of garlic

5 cups - 1.2 liters of water

1 portion of Parmesan cheese grated

1 handful of basil leaves

1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper

1 pinch of salt

How to make Pappa al Pomodoro:

First skin the tomatoes. Make a cross on the underside of the tomatoes with a knife and place them in a large container or pan. Then pour boiling water over the tomatoes and let them stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a container or pan with ice-cold water. Here the tomatoes are allowed after the 5 minutes have passed. Now you can easily pull the skins off the tomatoes.

Let the skinned tomatoes cool down a little and then remove the seeds. Cut the tomatoes into cubes.

Finely chop the celery stalk.

Crush the garlic or chop the cloves very finely.

For even more flavor, you can lightly fry the garlic and celery in a pan with some olive oil.

Then put a large (soup) pan on the fire with 1.2 liters of water in it. Add the diced tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and celery and salt and pepper to taste.

Set your heat source low and let the soup-to-be simmer for an hour.

Add the cubes of stale bread half an hour before eating. Put the soup back on the fire and let it simmer again. You can stir occasionally if you want the bread to fall apart a bit. Pappa al pomodoro is a hearty meal soup, but you can always add some water if you find the consistency too thick.

After 30 minutes, remove the pan from the heat. Spoon the Pappa al pomodoro into soup bowls or on plates and sprinkle with some basil and Parmesan cheese.

Optional: You can add a (vegetable) stock cube to the water for even more flavor. Then add less or no salt.