Pappa Al Pomodoro (Tuscan soup)

Pappa al pomodoro is such a fantastic dish. It stands as a symbol for all I love about Italian food: It’s a creative way of letting simple, high-quality ingredients shine. The dish originates from Tuscan cuisine, where its inventors looked for a delicious way to repurpose stale bread. Pappa al pomodoro is a simple and affordable dish bursting with Italian flavours. While the concept of a “bread soup” might sound weird if you haven’t had this dish before, trust me: It’s perfect! 

Ingredients for making Pappa al Pomodoro: 

• Ripe San Marzano Tomatoes 
• Fresh Basil 
• (Homemade) vegetable stock 
• Stale white bread (I used Ciabatta) 
• White onion 
• Garlic 
• Extra virgin olive oil 
• Salt & pepper to season 

As with most Italian dishes, I can recommend going for the highest quality ingredients possible. When only using these few elements and not a lot of spices, the quality of each ingredient shines through. If you can get your hands on some ripe San Marzano tomatoes, these would be the go-to. 

Other ripe plum tomatoes will work nicely as well. Also, use high-quality extra virgin olive oil and a good vegetable stock that can’t miss. I like to use homemade vegetable stock. It has so much flavour. For the olive oil, one with a dominant individual taste and some natural “spice” is just right. 

Traditionally, pappa al pomodoro calls for saltless Tuscan bread. From my experience, any stale white bread works fine. I am using ciabatta today. 

Pappa al Pomodoro Recipe: 

Preparing the Ingredients

Firstly, let’s prepare our tomatoes. For the best consistency of the soup, we want to blanch the tomatoes. By blanching, we avoid any pieces of tomato skin in the soup. Cut a cross insertion at the tip of the tomato, just slicing through the skin. Add the tomatoes to boiling water for a minute, and transfer them into a bath of cold water afterwards. The tomato peel should come right off. Also, take out the white, tough core of the tomatoes.

Once the tomatoes are ready, we can finish preparing the other ingredients. Get some delicious vegetable stock simmering, or heat a vegetable stock of your choice. Next, finely dice your onion. Smash the garlic, and mince finely. Now, let’s get our hands dirty: Break up the tomatoes by hand into manageable pieces. I like a bit of tomato texture to remain in the pappa al pomodoro. Lastly, cut your stale bread of choice into manageable bits. 

Let’s Start Cooking:

From here on, it’s super simple: Add two tablespoons of olive oil to your pot, and heat to medium heat. Sauté the onions for a minute before adding the garlic, and sauté until the onions turn translucent. We don’t want any colour developing. Next, add your tomato sauce, a few basil leaves and the bread.

Bring everything to a simmer, and stir until a thick soup forms. Start adding ladlefuls of the vegetable stock. 

Simmer the soup until everything has come nicely together. You aim for a thick soup with lots of consistency. Season with salt and pepper and an additional sip of olive oil to bring everything together.

To plate the pappa al pomodoro, garnish the soup with a pinch of salt and pepper, a few drops of extra virgin olive oil, and a few basil leaves. And that’s all there is to it! Enjoy this beautiful and simple dish! 

Other Recipes you might Enjoy: 

• This spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino is perfection. 
• Penne all’arrabbiata is the spicy classic!
• Try panzanella, the refreshing Tuscan bread salad.
• Garlic rosemary focaccia is a great starter as well.
• Roasted pumpkin risotto is simple but full of autumny flavour. 
• A homemade tomato sauce is such a luxurious pantry staple.
• White beans with garlic and rosemary are a simple but delicious side dish. 
• Tomato and porcini bruschetta are fantastic starters.
• Cherry tomato focaccia is a perfect summer snack.

Some more Delicious Soups: 

• Roasted tomato soup is simple and delicious!
• This easy pumpkin soup can’t go wrong. 
• Carabaccia, the Tuscan onion soup, is such a comfort food.
• A vibrant red beet soup is a personal favourite of mine.
• For more exotic flavours, check out this vegan tom kha recipe.

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