Papa Al Pomodoro

Papa Al Pomodoro  is a traditional Tuscan soup.  It's a tomato based soup made with bread.  It's  full of texture; not at all like a traditional tomato soup. This is Ina Garten's recipe and it's incredible .Make sure you use great bread for this recipe. I bought my ciabatta bread at the bake shop at whole foods. I bought 2 loafs and used about one and a half on this recipe. I also used  crushed San Marzano tomatoes which made life easy by eliminating the need to crush the tomatoes in a food processor. I'm in love with this soup.

Ingredients

·         1/2 cup good olive oil

·         2 cups chopped yellow onion (2 onions)

·         1 cup medium-diced carrots, unpeeled (3 carrots)

·         1 fennel bulb, trimmed, cored, and medium-diced (1 1/2 cups)

·         4 teaspoons minced garlic (4 cloves)

·         3 cups (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes, crusts removed

·         2 (28-ounce) cans good Italian plum tomatoes

·         4 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade

·         1/2 cup dry red wine

·         1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

·         Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

·         1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan

For the topping:

·         3 cups (1-inch) diced ciabatta cubes

·         2 ounces thickly sliced pancetta, chopped

·         24 to 30 whole fresh basil leaves

·         3 tablespoons good olive oil, plus more for serving

·         Salt and pepper

Directions

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, fennel, and garlic and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes, until tender. Add the ciabatta cubes and cook for 5 more minutes. Place the tomatoes in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade and process just until coarsely chopped. Add the tomatoes to the pot along with the chicken stock, red wine, basil, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper. Bring the soup to a boil, lower the heat, and allow to simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

For the topping, place the ciabatta cubes, pancetta, and basil on a sheet pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 to 25 minutes, until all the ingredients are crisp. The basil leaves will turn dark and crisp, which is perfectly fine. Reheat the soup, if necessary, beat with a wire whisk until the bread is broken up. Stir in the Parmesanand taste for seasoning. Serve hot sprinkled with the topping and drizzled with additional olive oil.

Brown Rice and Lentil Soup

This is a one of my favorite soups. I like  it  spicy but you can adjust the seasoning to your taste. Lentils are the quintessential comfort food and they are high in fiber, protein, B vitamins and folate. Serve this with some whole grain bread and perhaps a salad...completely satisfying. This soups is wonderful.

I've also made this with jalapeño pepper or hot pepper oil instead of the tobasco sauce. If you use jalapeños just slice them and saute them with the veggies.

adapted from a recipe by Jane Brody


10 cups of water

2 cups lentils

1/2 cup of brown rice

1 tbs olive oil

4 large cloves garlic minced

2 tbs grated ginger

1 cup chopped scallions, including green tops

1 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup chopped green pepper

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/4 reduced sodium soy sauce

2 tbs white rice vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

tabasco sauce to taste



In a large pot bring the water to a boil. Stir in the lentils and brown rice and boil over moderate heat for 30 minutes.


In a large skillet ( non-stick if you have it) heat the oil , add the garlic, ginger, scallions, celery, green pepper and parsley and saute until softened.


When the lentils and rice are done, add the vegtables to the pan along with the soy sauce, vinegar, salt and tobasco.



Serves 6-8.

Cream of Tomato Soup

From my childhood, I remember piping hot bowls of Campbell’s tomato soup, made with milk (not water) with Ritz crackers floating in the soup until they became sufficiently saturated to break with the spoon. I would eat the crackers and then add more to make the bowl last longer. And as if this wasn’t enough, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wonder bread (uggh) or a grilled cheese sandwich made with American cheese.

So when I said I was making homemade tomato soup and the response was “Why would you waste your time when you can open a can?” I understood.

This soup is worth the effort. Delicious.

Cream of Tomato Soup

1 large onion

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cans San Marzano tomatoes (28 oz, whole peeled)

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 bay leaves

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups half and half

Salt to taste

½ teaspoon ground white pepper



Melt butter over medium heat and sauté onions until translucent.

Add tomatoes, garlic, bay leaves, thyme and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a low simmer and cook uncovered for about an hour, until the tomatoes and onions are soft and broken down. Remove from heat. Remove bay leave and puree in a food processor, blender or food mill.

Strain soup. Return to a large pot set over low heat. Add salt, pepper and half and half.

San Marzano tomatoes are considered, by most chefs, to be the best tomatoes for any sauce. The San Marzano is an heirloom variety of the plum tomato. The legend is that the first seeds were given to the Kingdom of Naples, as a gift from Peru in 1770. The seed were planted in San Marzano a small town southeast of Naples near the base of Mount Vesuvius. The variety is grown in the United States and worldwide and is naturally sweet, with fewer seeds and lower acidity.

Still delicious with a grilled cheese sandwich. M'm! M'm! Good!