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Pappa Pomodoro is a specialty of the region of Tuscany that we were visiting and I completely fell in love.  It is a simple tomato basil soup with the addition of bread which is simmered in the soup to make a thick hearty porridge-like texture.  If that doesn’t sound wonderful to you, just trust me.  In some places it is served slightly spicy and sometimes just plain.  We sampled several varieties.  It is the ultimate in fresh and flavorful comfort food.  When we got back from the trip, I knew I had to find a recipe and capture this before I forgot what it tasted like.

This is my very slight variation on a recipe I found from Jamie Oliver.

Pappa Pomodoro

2-3 cups chopped tomatoes – Jamie uses cherry tomatoes, I used romas from the Farmers Market chopped into quarters or big chunks.

3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly

a large handful of fresh basil leaves

olive oil

salt & pepper

a large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)

2-3 cups of stale ciabatta bread, chopped/ripped into bite-sized pieces

crushed red pepper (optional)

Chop the roma tomatoes into large chunks (or use cherry tomatoes and slash the skins so they don’t “pop”).  Place those on a large, rimmed baking sheet, drizzle generously with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.  Add one of the garlic cloves and rip up a small batch of basil leaves and sprinkle them over the top.  Roast these tomatoes at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, add a generous couple of tablespoons of olive oil to a large pot and saute the remaining garlic for just a couple of minutes over medium heat. Rip up the rest of the basil leaves and add them to the pot.  Add the canned tomatoes and then fill the can with water and add that.  Bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.  Finally add the bread and the tray of roasted tomatoes, scraping it with a rubber spatula to get all of the juices and oil. If you want to add a little red pepper, this would be the place to do it. I didn’t make the spicy version (yet), but I think a scant 1/4 tsp would be about right.  Simmer this for about 10 more minutes until the bread is very soft.  Then give it a good stir to break up the bread and get a thick porridge kind of texture.  Depending on how you feel about tomato skins, you can also puree this a little bit with a hand-blender to chop up some of the larger pieces.  This is served with a little fresh basil over the top and an extra drizzle of olive oil.  So very very good.  We had this the other night with some sliced pears, cheese and a glass of wine.

I didn’t take a photo of it, but this is a photo from Trattoria Omero, an excellent restaurant who introduced me to this dish.