Tomato Bread Soup

bread soup 2.jpgThis is an uncomplicated comforting soup to eat on a cold early spring day.  It’s warm and filling without being heavy.  My mother said the pieces of bread in the soup were like eating clouds.  Seriously, I’m not kidding you, she really said that.  Best thing?  It gets even better by the second day.

If you have a lot of home canned tomatoes this is an excellent recipe to make with them.

Tomato Bread Soup
serves 8

Ingredients:

1/2 cup olive oil
1onion, diced
2 quarts diced or stewed tomatoes (use the juice too)
1 quart vegetable broth
1/4 cup red wine
8 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried oregano
30 grinds of pepper
1 day old baguette, torn into small pieces

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot on med/high heat, then add the onion and saute until it slightly browns.  Add the tomatoes, broth, red wine, salt, oregano, and pepper.  Turn the heat down to med/low.

Cook for twenty minutes.

Remove from the heat and puree the soup with an immersion blender OR let it cool down and then blend it in a blender and then return it to the pot.

Put the soup back on the stove, bring to a brief boil, then turn the heat to low and add the bread to it.  Stir it in well and let it cook for ten more minutes.  The bread should be completely saturated and soft but not disintegrated.  If you used particularly hard stale bread you may need to let it cook a little longer.

It is very good just like this but I like to serve it with grated Parmesan.

another bread soup 2.jpg

Recipe notes: You can substitute commercially canned diced or stewed tomatoes – use 2 28 oz cans in place of the quarts.  It’s not precisely  the same number of ounces but it won’t hurt the recipe at all.  If you use fresh oregano then use a tablespoon of minced in place of the tsp of dried.  If you make this in the summer time you can use 4 1/2 pounds of fresh tomatoes with the seeds squeezed out.

If you object to cooking with wine (or don’t have any on hand) you can substitute red wine vinegar for it – don’t leave it out if you’re using home canned.  If you use commercially canned tomatoes you can leave out the wine or vinegar all together, though I don’t think you should.

Don’t cut down on the olive oil amount.  This is such a simple soup and the olive oil adds a very important richness to it.  It’s not so very much per person when divided into 8 portions.

This recipe isn’t gluten free but I’d love it if one of my gluten free friends would try making it with gluten free bread and tell me if it’s good!


This is a vegan recipe.

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