Pappa al Pomodoro-Italian tomato and bread stew August 10, 2009

The cooking of this recipe came about because I had the good fortune of receiving a LARGE quantity of garden tomatoes (thanks to Big Jim!) and was running out of ways to eat them before they started to go bad. A conversation with a co-worker brought up the subject of this soup, which she had in Italy. Thanks Judy, this is delicious, rich, hearty and is a meal in itself! (I took the recipe from Joe Sponzo on foodandwine.com and tweeked it.

Ingredients
5-10 pounds tomatoes
2 tablespoons butter (if you go vegan, just omit the butter and use more oil)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, (or 3 small) halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
2 shallots, thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3-4 tbsp of minced garlic (from a jar is easiest)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
Salt & Pepper
Crusty Italian bread cubes, torn in pieces (ok if it’s stale)
1/4 cup fresh oregano
4 cups low sodium veggie stock
mozzarella or parmesan cheese (optional)

First you have to skin and seed the tomatoes. This is an easy but time-consuming process. You can use 2-3 cans of tomatoes, but I had a lot of fresh ones to use up. To do this, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice water. Cut a slit in the base of each tomato. Add the tomatoes to the boiling water and blanch just until the skins start to split, about 10 seconds for smaller tomatoes and 30 seconds for large ones. Transfer the blanched tomatoes to the ice water to cool. Peel and halve the tomatoes crosswise. Working over a mesh strainer set over a large bowl, pry out the seeds and press the tomato juice and pulp through the strainer. Discard the seeds. Coarsely chop the tomatoes. (I could not find the small strainer so I discarded the pulp as well as the seeds.)

There is a great video on how to do this HERE.

Here’s how mine came out:

Empty the boiling water and wipe out the pot and heat the butter, add the onion, carrots and celery and cook over low heat, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the clove garlic and shallots and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and crushed red pepper and seasonings. Cover partially and simmer over moderately high heat until the tomatoes have cooked down, about 30 minutes. Add veggie stock and oregano and simmer for a while until you have the desired consistency, (maybe another 30 minutes). If the soup is overly spicy, add some brown sugar (1-2 tbsp) and simmer for another 10 minutes.

When you serve the soup, tear some crusty bread into a bowl and ladle soup over it. Top with cheese and enjoy. You can also let this soup cool and put in the fridge to have the next day, after the flavors have had a chance to sit.

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