Pappa Al Pomodoro
Fall is soup weather and we love traditional countryside recipes passed down by our neighbors. This is farm country and no food was ever wasted in an Umbrian kitchen.
Some of our favorite recipes, be it Panzanella in summer or a hearty Ribollita in colder months, are those using stale bread as a base. This season we are sharing a recipe for Pappa al Pomodoro, a classic tomato-based comfort dish most every Italian child grew up eating.
Ingredients for Pappa al Pomodoro
450 g (1 pound) stale bread
500 g (1.1 pound) tomato passata or peeled tomatoes
1 liter (4.2 cups) vegetable broth
2 cloves of garlic
a heavy pinch of granulated sugar
6 to 8 fresh basil leaves
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil, to taste
First step: The Bread
This recipe will not work with US store bought loaves of sliced bread. There are ingredients in sandwich bread that will make the dish gummy. Stick to ciabatta or baguette type breads.
The bread needs to be dry and hard. Like 3-4 days stale. If it’s not quite there finish it off in a low oven. You want it dry, not toasted.* Chop your bread into golf ball-sized chunks. If some are a little bigger and others smaller, that is fine. Rub the bread chunks with a garlic clove. Yes, every side.
Step two: Layering
Put a layer of the garlicked bread chunks in the bottom of a heavy pot or Dutch oven. Add in what remains of the garlic you used to season the bread (plus one more clove cut in half) Make your layer full, no gaps. Drizzle the bread with good extra virgin olive oil (1-1.5 tablespoons max)
Next drop 3-5 tablespoons of passata or a chunky tomato sauce on your bread layer. Repeat layering until you are out of bread. (Example: I used a 8-9 inch diameter cooking pot and made three layers total.)
On the last layer add torn basil leaves, a healthy pinch of fine or flake salt and freshly ground pepper. Then top with 2-3 large ladles of broth. Sett your flame on medium low heat and stir while the bread absorbs the broth. As the bread absorbs the liquid, add another 2-3 ladles of broth and keep stirring to break up the bread and mix the tomato through. Stir from the bottom to be sure all the bread is getting liquid. You are done when the bread chunks have absorbed the broth and are broken down into the tomato liquid.
At the end, you will have a thick tomato stew. Feel free to add a little more passata during cooking if you prefer it more tomatoey. Finish with more fresh basil and freshly ground pepper. Add peperoncino flakes at the start if you like a bit of heat!
You can serve this dish hot or at room temp. It is absolutely better the next day after the flavors meld. Reheat with some warm broth or even hot water. It keeps about 3 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer.
