Pappa al Pomodoro

[lesley]

Happy New Year everyone!
It's been a busy time for us over the last month, not just cooking, but looking after the elderly. This is one of the soups we serve up in December & January. Although it's really a summer soup, tomatoes are always available in the supermarkets. It's cheap & easy to make, & great for using up any stale bread. I first had this soup in Tuscany & thought it looked like a bowl of stodge! But it's tastes delicious & goes down very well, especially for people living on their own, as it reheats perfectly the next day or you can freeze.

Serves 4
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time 55 minutes
Ingredients
500g Ripe plum tomatoes(cut in half length ways)
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
20 Basil leaves (roughly chopped)
2 Cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
250g stale bread (I used Ciabatta)
400ml water



Method

Put 2 tbsp of Extra virgin olive oil into a roasting dish, stir in half the basil and all the garlic
Lay the cut tomatoes in the roasting dish, skin side up and brush the skins with the extra virgin olive oil mixture
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place on the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven 200deg;C/400deg;F gas mark 6 for 30 minutes
Transfer the tomatoes to a large heavy saucepan, add the tin of tomatoes and water
Use a fork to break up the tomatoes
Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes
Break the bread up into roughly 1"/25mm squares and add to the saucepan
Gently stir in the remaining basil
Simmer for a further 10 minutes
Serve

Equipment

Roasting dish
Large heavy saucepan
Shopping List

500g Ripe plum tomatoes
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
20 Basil leaves
2 Cloves garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
250g stale bread

 

[Cook Chatty Cathy]

This sounds wonderful Lesley!!! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

 

[lesley]

You're welcome..

 

[cookie]

Happy new year! Your dish looks delicious, I love tomatoes Cookie

 

[The Ironic Chef]

Bread Lasagna , No Pasta

I make a dish using the stale bread slices and actually making a lasagna replacing the pasta with the bread. This is one of my wifes favorites. I use lots of mozzarella cheese.

Is there a name for this dish? I always thought that it was a Pomodoro

 

[Mama Mangia]

Pomodoro is an Italian term for tomato.
Lasagna when not made with noodles/pasta, can be made with eggplant, zucchini (squash), and there is such a thing as lasagna bread.

 

[jpshaw]

OK, for us that don't get out very much, who's going to translate "g" into oz?

 

[The Ironic Chef]

Grams to Ounces conversion calculator

Hope this helps.

 

[Dilbert]

>>OK, for us that don't get out very much, who's going to translate "g" into oz?

the number is 30.

it's not exact to the nth decimal place, but

30 ml = one fluid ounce
or
30 grams = one avoirdupois ounce (ie weight)

is close enough to work in horseshoes.

 

[jpshaw]

Thanks IC and Dilbert. Those will help me when our English friends post a recipe. I do have a postal meter I use for cooking that will change from Lb and oz to oz only plus grams. It can convert only the weight on the scale though. I find it very useful in cooking since it will zero out a container, meaning if it is on and you put a bowl of cooking oil it will weigh the bowl and the oil. However if you will turn it off, then place the empty bowl on it before turning it on it will zero out the bowl and measure only the ingredient you pour into the bowl. Only goes to 3 Lbs but that has been fine for cooking.

 

[jpshaw]

Just watched Rachal Ray make just about this same soup but with white beans added. I think I will try it with lentils. I use mostly dried beans and lentils don't require pre-soak.

 

[Mama Mangia]

I usually don't soak - just cook longer -