Make your kitchen smell outright divine with this Tuscan-based slow roasted tomato bread soup, Pappa al Pomodoro. This recipe is a perfect example of eating with the seasons & peasant cooking. Using our homegrown tomatoes & garlic along with stale bread - with only three ingredients, the taste is explosive!

Originating in Tuscany (about an hour away) we can't resist sharing this mouthwatering recipe at our farmhouse during summer cooking classes with dinner alfresco - using our plump and juicy homegrown piccadilly, datorini & cherry tomatoes!

Filmed LIVE during a summer cooking class in Le Marche, Italy at our farmhouse, inn & cooking school.

"Taste of Italy" is our webseries of shorts (under 2 min.) of life on our farm in Italy, the food, cooking classes, garden and more.

Taste of Italy: Pappa al Pomodoro (Tuscan Tomato Bread Soup)

Recipe:

Serves 4
1/2 kilo of ripe cherry tomatoes
few cloves of garlic, peeled & sliced
large bunch of basil, set aside soft stems for later (chopped)
good extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper
2 medium cans of good quality tomatoes
2 big handfuls of good stale bread, crusts removed
olive oil for cooking

Preheat oven to 375 F / 190 C
Toss cherry tomatoes with oil, 1 clove of garlic chopped, 1/3 of your basil, salt & pepper. Place on a cookie/baking sheet. Place in oven for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes burst open.

In a heavy bottomed pot, heat a couple glugs of olive oil, SLOWLY cooking your garlic & basil until soft for a couple minutes. Turn up heat, add tomatoes & 1 can of water. Break up tomatoes with back of a wooden spoon. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Tear bread into bite size pieces, mixing well.
Season with salt & pepper.

Turn down heat, cook for another 10 minutes.
When cherry tomatoes are done cooking add them to the soup. Make sure to scrap all the good, caramelized juicy bits from your pan into the soup.

Stir & taste check. You are looking for a thick soup. If it is too dry, adjust with water. When you are happy with the consistency, remove from heat. Stir in 7-8 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil and torn basil leaves.

Serve warm or hot.