PAPPA AL POMODORO
I love the word pomodoro, I imagine all the o’s as tiny tomatoes, and the straight sections of the consonants as vines. As a bread maker, having lots of new recipes for stale bread has been a win! Let’s be honest there’s not a lot of non-wins whilst on holiday in Tuscano!
I wasn’t planning on delving into bread soups as I felt like it was a winter thing, but at an amazing restaurant in Siena we were served Pappa al pomodoro cold, as a pre-starter. It was such a beautiful way to awaken the taste buds. It’s more of a porridge than a soup texture ( it actually translates to tomato porridge). and although you can use canned tomatoes, why would you when, here, the produce is so amazing. I had no onions and no stock so used what I could find in the condiment cupboard to add some depth - A tiny splash of soy, oregano, steak seasoning and tiny dried chillies.
Pappa al pomodoro
500g Pomodoro Tomatoes (Roma/plum)
Cipolla Onion
Aglio Garlic
300g Pane raffermo Stale bread
Azione Stock
Pepe e Salle
My exchanges: No Onion. Chilli. Oregano. Soy sauce. Steak seasoning.
Method
Mark tomatoes with a cross on the bottoms then plunge into boiling water for a few minutes. Remove and let cool a little before peeling. Sauté onions, garlic and any herbs you can find, then add the tomatoes and crush with a wooden spoon until then are falling apart. Add stale bread and mix then add stock or water a little at a time. Cook down til a porridge like consistency. Serve hot or cold with burrata, basil, olive oil or as is.
First image is the dish from restaurant.
