Pappa al pomodoro (Bread and tomato soup)
- Preparation time: 25 minutes
- Cooking time: 20 minutes.
- One onion.
- One leek.
- One carrot.
- One stick of celery.
- 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil.
- 400g tomatoes.
- Spring of fresh sage.
- Basil.
- 6 slices hard.
- Unsalted bread.
- Extra-virgin olive oil.
- Salt.
- Chili pepper.
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Finely chop the onion, leek carrot, and celery and fry with the oil in a large earthenware pan. Add salt, the peeled and chopped tomatoes, sage and basil and cook, adding water until it becomes smooth and creamy, neither too thick nor too runny. The soup should be served tepid, with olive oil drizzled on top. The flavour can be pepped up with a dash of chili pepper. The forerunner of this dish was called
panunto or
pancotto and it contained no vegetables at all.
Indeed the original recipe was without tomatoes, as it dates from long before the discovery of America and their arrival in Europe. The ingredients were therefore simply bread, oil, garlic and salt and this tasty, mushy mixture was often used to wean babies.
