Recipe: Italian Tomato and Bread soup

This recipe is very simple, and surprisingly delicious. I found it in Donna Hay`s “Modern Classics” cookbook and had to try it. To be honest unlike the Italians, I`m not a big fan of using bread in soups and salads. This version however made me interested.  It`s somewhere between a gazpacho and a liquid bruschetta. Fresh ingredient are must have, even thou I used my grandmothers own tomato pure instead of fresh tomatoes. The supermarket pures just wont do for this one. You need the fresh taste of tomatoes and fresh basil for this soup, and garlic, plenty of garlic!

Donna`s Recipe is the following:

To peel the tomatoes, score a cross on the skin on the base and place in a large saucepan of boiling water, leaving them there for 3 minutes. Drain, then peel.

Place the oil and garlic in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook for 1 minute.  Add the tomatoes and simmer for 30 minutes. (If you use good quality tomato pure, you only need to bring it to boiling point, it happens very fast, also pay attention not to burn it. I also found that adding a bit of white wine is a good idea, gives it even a bit more sour taste.) Stir the tomatoes occasionally to break them up.

Remove the crust from the bread and tear the centre into chunks (I found, if you put the bread in the oven to dry over high heat, it will b chunkier in the soup)

Add the bread, stock, basil and sugar to the tomatoes and allow to stand for 5 minutes.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, drizzle with extra olive oil and sprinkle plenty of cracked pepper. Serves 4-6 ( I added some extra fresh parmesan cheese and some fresh onions for the taste)

It`s ready in no time, filling and tasty, and the ingredients are simple and easy to find as well. If you want to impress your guests with something special and interesting this soup is the way to go! Enjoy!