Maremmamaiala: Bread and tomato soup Tuscan style

Maremmamaiala: Bread and tomato soup Tuscan style

The forced coronavirus lock-in leads me to reconsider the art of recycling, in the kitchen nothing is thrown away, in this peasant culture is a teacher.

And Tuscan cuisine is an art of the domestic economy.

In Florence, the cradle of Humanism and the Renaissance, there is a dish that in my opinion perfectly encompasses everything about Tuscany: that of being histrionic and arrogant but, at the same time, delicate as silk:

Bread and tomato soup!

A wise use of homemade leftovers has made it an inevitable delicacy in summer snacks.

Stale bread, preferably almost dry, vegetable broth, tomatoes: simple raw materials that are always present in every home. This composition does not admit haste, it is the dish for the next day.

Recipe for tomato soup

We cut the bread into cubes and mix it with cold vegetable broth. Don't you have the broth? And who doesn't have a carrot, an onion, a piece of celery in the fridge – now you have broth?

Please, we don't use ready-made powders, they stink! Let it rest for a couple of hours, so much for tomorrow.

In a saucepan, heat the oil with a few cloves of garlic. But they don't have to be fried and immediately turn off the gas and add the tomatoes. Those that are beautiful red, ripe, finely cut and peeled, and leave them alone the same time as the bread.

At this point, we squeeze the bread until all the broth is expelled, and with a fork, reduce it to a pulp. Once the garlic is removed, add the tomatoes and continue that fork job.

Adjust salt and serve it as it is or in the shapes you like best. It goes very well with various raw fish or meat.

I chose the raw salmon cut into light slices and some orange zest.

In the glass? A Felcebianco, a triple A from Ortonovo.


Subscribe to Newsletter

Discover a territory through the emotions of the people that have lived it.