Real Bread Campaign

Pappa al Pomodoro

A wonderful fact of life is that Real Bread gets stale.  With some of the most comforting (and economical) dishes around being based on stale bread, sometimes it’s hard to wait for it to happen in order to celebrate this fine ingredient. 

Joining the illustrious ranks of bread and butter pudding, panzanella, stuffing, summer pudding, bread sauce, gazpacho, poor knights, toast and more, here is chef, cookery writer and farmers’ market champion Clodagh McKenna’s take on a summer classic from Italy.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:
400g stale Real Bread
1 large onion, diced
150ml extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1kg ripe tomatoes, skinned and roughly chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
1.5 litres light chicken or vegetable stock,
1 small bunch of leaves basil

Method:
Place the bread in a pre-heated oven at 150°C for two minutes to dry out, then break into small pieces and set aside.
Put a large casserole dish or saucepan over a medium heat, drizzle in a good dollop of olive oil, followed by the onion, cover and cook until soft.
Stir in the garlic, cook for a minute and pour in the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.
Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly, before liquidising and returning to the pot.
Stir in the hot stock, bread, another dollop of olive oil and basil leaves and allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the soup is very thick.
Serve warm with a drizzle of olive oil and some freshly grated Parmesan.

Following the success of The Irish Farmers' Market Cookbook, former Ballymaloe House chef Clodagh McKenna’s second book, Fresh From the Sea, is available now. http://www.clodaghmckenna.com/