More uses for stale bread......this time - soup!

The Drunken Cheesy Bread only used up part of my stale-bread-in-the-freezer supply. The rest went to make this easy soup - Pappa al Pomodoro - from Rachael Ray. According to many sources, including this article in the NYT by Mark Bittman, the name of this soup translates loosely to "tomato mush". Hmmm, maybe sometimes it's better not to translate things into English. Most recipes I found included tomatoes, bread, olive oil and basil as the core ingredients.

Rachael says that the soup is thick enough when
your spoon will stand up in the pot.

In her cookbook, 365: No Repeats, she explains that she got this particular recipe from a gentleman in Italy who INSISTS that if you're going to make this soup, you MUST make it exactly as written - including the chopped raw onion and the drizzle of olive oil at the end to finish it off. Only the basil is optional. Not wanting to disrespect the originator of this recipe, I did follow the instructions to the "T", only leaving out the optional basil since it's no longer in season. This soup would be a great end-of-summer soup when the garden is loaded with tomatoes and basil, but my basil is long gone and I try not to shell out any money for those pitiful little fresh herb packs at the grocery store, so I skipped it.

Pappa al Pomodoro

Certainly it would have been wonderful with the basil, but it was delicious without. I was a little skeptical about the raw onion garnish but we all agreed that the onions did add something, as did the drizzle of EVOO. Easy to make, very hearty and very satisfying. Rachael claims this recipe makes 4 servings but we got at least 6 large servings, maybe more.

Now that I've tried it as instructed, I'll feel free to add a few dried herbs in the winter months to add a little herbal zing. Wegmans makes a rosemary olive oil sourdough that would be REALLY good in this soup.

Bread, Cheese and Wine

Really, that's all you need for a terrific meal: bread, cheese and wine. Here's a supremely simple dish that combines all three into one deliciously satisfying meal.

I don't know about you, but I am always tossing leftover hunks of bread into the freezer thinking that I'll find a use for them later. More often than not, I end up throwing them out when they start to look too dried out and freezer burned. While cleaning out the freezer the other day, I found yet another bag of neglected bread pieces - nice chunks of crusty sourdough - and decided I was going to use them, darn it. I ended up using half for this recipe and half for an Italian bread soup from Rachael Ray that I will share with you later.

Drunken Cheesy Bread

I started with a shallow 11 x 7-inch casserole dish and laid the bread cubes in a single layer (a slightly crowded single layer, but I tried to squish them all in there). Next comes a bit of thinly sliced onion - be sure to slice as thinly as possible as the onion does not get sauteed first - and ham (I used some sliced deli ham that we happened to have on hand). Unlike egg-based stratas or bread puddings, this one does not require an overnight soak - you just pour the wine over the bread mixture and you're good to go. I used one of those little 4-pack bottles of white wine which are just shy of 1 cup - these little bottles are great to keep on hand for cooking. The dish is topped off with 6 ounces of shredded cheese - I used Fontina and Asiago. Super simple - the hardest part is shredding the cheese.

Mmmmm....was this good. We got 4 servings out of this, just barely. It looks like a large amount of food when you're dishing it out, but since it is not dense with egg, it actually ends up being fairly light and I wouldn't have minded a bit more or at least some leftovers. Next time I'll increase the quantities and make a 9 x 13-inch pan. I was happy to see that the onions - if you slice them thinly - bake up quite nicely so sauteeing them first truly is not necessary. My first thought was that a bit of proscuitto would be really nice in this dish and of course, just about any variety of cheeses would do well - the type of dish that you can mold to whatever you have on hand.

A big thanks to Elisabeth over at the CLBB for bringing this recipe to light! I see various incarnations of this dish becoming part of our regular rotation.......so many possibilities and potential combinations.........

Bacon, Onion and Fontina Strata

Source: Cooking Light

5 cups chopped Oso Sweet or other sweet onion
1/4 cup water
2 1/2 cups fat-free milk
1 cup egg substitute (I used 4 eggs)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
5 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
10 ounce day-old Italian or French bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fontina cheese

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion; sauté 10 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Add water; cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and simmer 30 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Cool.

Combine milk, egg substitute, mustard, salt, and pepper in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in onion and bacon. Add bread; toss gently to coat.

Arrange half of bread mixture in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with half of cheese. Top with remaining bread mixture. Cover and chill overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Uncover strata. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese; bake an additional 20 minutes or until browned. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 8 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING: CALORIES 257(27% from fat); FAT 7.6g (sat 3.6g,mono 2.3g,poly 1g); PROTEIN 14.8g; CHOLESTEROL 22mg; CALCIUM 236mg; SODIUM 614mg; FIBER 2.4g; IRON 1.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 32.6g

Cooking Light, JANUARY 2005

I talked about this recipe HERE.

Italian Bread and Cheese Soup

Source: Moosewood's Simple Suppers

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (I used 5 cloves)
1 quart of vegetable broth (I used 28 ounces chicken broth and 4 ounces white wine)
4 ounces Fontina, Gruyere or Cheddar cheese (I used Fontina)
4 slices whole wheat bread (I used whole grain sourdough)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or parsley (I used 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian herb mix)
black pepper

In a soup pot, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic and cook until just golden, not brown. (Add the wine and Italian herbs and simmer about 5 minutes). Add the broth and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, grate the cheese (about 2 cups).

When you're ready to serve the soup, toast the bread. Break each slice of toast into bite-sized pieces and place in individual soup bowls. Cover with about 1/2 cup of cheese. Sprinke with basil or parsley and pepper. Ladle a cup of hot broth over bread and cheese in each bowl and serve at once.

The Moosewood cookbook also suggests placing chopped tomatoes, spinach or arugula in the bowls with the bread, under the cheese as additional serving ideas for this soup.

I talked about this recipe HERE.