Pantry Dinner: Pappa al Pomodoro

• April 01, 2014  |
• by Kirstin Uhrenholdt

Aaaaaargh! It’s 5:49 pm and you have not a clue what your family is going to have for dinner. Never fear, your pantry dinner recipe is here!

Sometimes you have time to spend a whole day cooking and humming around your kitchen in a fancy apron. And sometimes you just fling open your pantry and hope that dinner has just magically appeared. Well ta da! Here is dinner, Pappa al Pomodoro (Simple Tomato and Bread Soup), and it is almost magic.

It is possible that you already have all these ingredients. It is super easy to make and you end up with a tangy, tasty, nourishing bowl of soup. We call it a “pantry dinner” and we love pantry dinner recipes so much we have a bunch we share with you in our book. Do you have a favorite pantry dinner you can share with us? Please do!

YOU NEED

2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
4-5 slices of dense day old bread torn into pieces (like ciabatta or sourdough), about 3 cups loosely packed
4 cups chicken broth or water
1 28-ounce can or jar of chopped organic tomatoes with juices (or if it is summer, 3 1/2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes)
The rind of a parmesan (optional)
Salt and vinegar to taste
Fresh basil
Red pepper flakes
Parmesan cheese

TO MAKE 6 SERVINGS

Heat an ovenproof soup pot over medium high heat then drizzle in the olive oil, add the onions and garlic, sauté until the onions are very soft. Throw in the bread, sauté until starting to turn golden, then add the tomatoes and parmesan rind to the pot. Simmer on medium low heat for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the parmesan rind. Season the soup with salt and a splash of vinegar to taste, shower a bit of parmesan on top of the soup and put the pot under the broiler until the parmesan and the tips of bread sticking up start to brown and sizzle (this last step is optional).

Serve the soup straight out of the pot with hand torn basil, a drizzle of olive oil, red pepper flakes, and a side of parmesan.