Tuscan Bread Soup
Prep Time: 60 mins | Servings: 8 servings
PERFECT FOR: Hearty Lunch or Soup for Supper
SOUP STORY
This soup is unusual, hearty and a new family favorite! Bread in soup? Who knew it would be so good? My family calls it “Pizza in a Bowl” because it contains all of the amazing ingredients of a Margherita Pizza!—bread, mozzarella, parmesan, garlic and tomatoes all make for a hearty Italian meal. It is the perfect soup for a winter weeknight dinner because there are only a few simple ingredients that you most likely have in your cupboard anyway! Today was the first really cold day as we head into the New England winter and it seemed like the perfect soup to warm up with after a day of sports. Make sure you get excellent fresh made Mozzarella. If you cannot find that, better to skip it all together and just use the shaved parmesan! And definitely use a high quality olive oil—this is a dish where the quality of the ingredients really matter!
INGREDIENTS
Excellent quality olive oil
1 medium Spanish onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves
2 celery stalks, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
2 @ 28 ounce boxes of POMI
4 cups of water
7 cups of stale Tuscan bread (no crusts) and chopped into 1” cubes
1 cup of chopped fresh basil and parsley
Sea salt and cracked pepper for serving
DIRECTIONS
In a large stock pot, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil, the onion and the garlic. Once translucent, add the carrots and the celery and then allow to sweat until the flavors blend together.
Add the POMI tomatoes (or use fresh in season only) .*Always used boxed tomatoes or non-BPA cans.
Add salt, pepper and 1/2 of the chopped parsley and basil
Allow to simmer for 45 minutes
While the tomato sauce is simmering, chop the bread. Remove the crusts and chop into cubes. If you can’t get stale bread, simply cut into cubes, toss with olive oil and salt and pepper and bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees until they have a slight crunch.
Taste the tomato sauce and season to your liking, then add the bread and simmer for 5-7 minutes until the cubes soften
Ladle the soup into bowls, toss in the basil and parsley mixture generously and drizzle a little olive oil and sea salt on the top.
Enjoy with a Super Tuscan or another favorite Italian wine! Buon Appetito!
