Thick Tomato Bread Soup Catalan Style Food

THICK TOMATO-BREAD SOUP, CATALAN STYLE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large sauté pan. Add garlic and cook over low heat till soft. Add chorizo, raise heat and cook until starting to brown. Stir in paprika. Remove from heat.
• Place a sieve over the pan, halve tomatoes horizontally and hold cut side down over sieve as you gently squeeze to remove seeds and allow juice to fall into pan. Remove sieve. Reserve tomato pulp. Heat juice in pan until warm, add saffron and set aside off heat 10 minutes.
• Finely chop tomato pulp by hand or in food processor. Add to pan. Bring to a simmer. Stir in bread. Cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to stand, off heat, stirring from time to time, until room temperature, about 30 minutes. Fold in parsley and serve.

TUSCAN BREAD AND TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large, heavy soup pot over medium-low heat. Add the onion, and cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Meanwhile, pulse the tomatoes in a food processor fitted with the steel blade until coarsely blended.
• Add the garlic to the pot. Cook, stirring, for about a minute until fragrant. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, red chili flakes, and salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have cooked down, about 10 minutes.
• Stir the bread cubes into the tomatoes. Add the water, half the basil and salt to taste. Increase the heat, and simmer, stirring and mashing the bread, for about 10 minutes until the soup is thick, like pap. Stir in the remaining basil, and taste and adjust the seasonings. Serve hot, warm or room temperature with the remaining olive oil drizzled over each serving.

CATALAN TOMATO BREAD

Steps:

• Slice loaf in half horizontally.
• Set halves, cut side upon a 15 x 12-inch baking sheet.
• Broil about 4 inches from heat until toasted, about 2 minutes.
• If crust side is soft, turn over and toast 1 to 2 minutes longer.
• Cut garlic clove in half.
• Rub cloves over cut surface of bread.
• Brush or drizzle bread with oil.
• Cut tomato in half horizontally; rub cut sides over toast, squeezing slightly to release juices.
• Cut bread into 1 1/2-inch wide wedges and enjoy.