Pappa al Pomodoro is a traditional Tuscan dish made with stale bread and tomatoes. The bread cooks directly in the tomato sauce until it breaks down, then the pappa is left to rest until soft and uniform. Fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil finish the dish.
Pour 30 g of extra virgin olive oil into a saucepan and add the 2 garlic cloves, cut in half. Let them gently infuse the oil for a few minutes over low heat, without allowing them to brown.
Add the 800 g of peeled tomatoes and crush them directly in the saucepan with a fork. Add a few basil leaves, a little salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
Cook over moderate heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The tomatoes should lose some of their liquid and turn into a sauce, but should not become too dry.
Meanwhile, cut the 300 g of stale Tuscan bread into slices. Once the tomatoes are ready, add the bread directly to the saucepan and pour in the 300 g of hot water.
Cook over low heat for about 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently and working the bread with a spoon as it absorbs the liquid. The exact time will vary depending on how dry the bread is, so pay more attention to its texture than to the clock. The slices should become completely soft and begin to break down into the tomatoes.
If the pappa becomes too dry before the bread reaches this stage, add a little more hot water at a time.
Stir vigorously and press down any remaining pieces of bread until the mixture becomes soft and uniform. There is no need to blend it: the bread should break down through cooking and stirring.
Turn off the heat while the mixture is still slightly softer than you want it to be when served, as the Pappa al Pomodoro will continue to thicken while it rests.
Cover the saucepan and leave the Pappa al Pomodoro to rest for about 1 hour.
After resting, stir it again. If it has become too thick, add a little hot water and work it with the spoon until it returns to a soft consistency.
Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Add the remaining 20 g of extra virgin olive oil and a few fresh basil leaves, then stir.
Serve the Pappa al Pomodoro hot, warm or at room temperature, finishing each portion with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a few fresh basil leaves.
Servings 4
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
The amount of water can vary depending on the bread. Very dry bread will absorb more, so keep some additional hot water nearby and add it gradually without making the pappa watery.
If you want to use fresh tomatoes, choose ripe, flavourful ones. You can replace the 800 g of peeled tomatoes with about 1 kg of fresh tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped before cooking.
Stale Tuscan bread is particularly suitable because it has a dense crumb and is traditionally made without salt. If you cannot find it, use a rustic white country loaf with a firm crumb, preferably one that is not heavily salted.
Pappa al Pomodoro can be served hot, warm or at room temperature. If you make it ahead, check the consistency before serving: the bread will continue to absorb liquid as it rests, so you may need to loosen it with a little hot water.
We do not know who first made Pappa al Pomodoro, nor do we have a date for the recipe's origin. By the beginning of the 20th century, however, the dish was already familiar enough in Tuscany to find its way into one of the most popular Italian children's books of the period.
Between 1907 and 1908, Florentine writer Luigi Bertelli, better known by his pen name Vamba, published Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca in instalments. In the novel, the young protagonist Giannino Stoppani is sent to the Pierpaoli boarding school, where life is far from pleasant and the same rice soup keeps appearing at the table.
Giannino and the other boys eventually decide that they have had enough. Their protest takes a suitably Gian Burrasca turn: during a night-time expedition, they ruin the school's supply of rice with kerosene. The following day, the usual rice soup can no longer be prepared.
In its place comes Pappa col Pomodoro.
The boys' reaction says enough. Vamba describes the twenty-six mouths of the boarders opening into twenty-six smiles. After day after day of rice soup, Pappa col Pomodoro feels like a small victory. As far as Giannino is concerned, the sabotage has worked and the rebellion has finally produced something good to eat.
Pappa al Pomodoro therefore becomes more than simply a better lunch. Within the story, it is the reward for a small rebellion, won after a secret conspiracy and a night spent sabotaging the school pantry.
More than half a century later, that scene returned in front of a much larger audience.
Between December 1964 and February 1965, Italian broadcaster Rai aired Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca, an eight-part television series directed by Lina Wertmüller. A young Rita Pavone was cast as Giannino, playing the story's mischievous boy protagonist.
Pappa col Pomodoro returned with her, this time in song. In the series, Rita Pavone performed “Viva la pappa col pomodoro”, with lyrics by Lina Wertmüller and music by Nino Rota.
It is an interesting journey: a dish that Vamba had used at the beginning of the 20th century as the happy outcome of a schoolboy rebellion became, in the 1960s, the subject of one of the television series' most recognisable songs.
That helps explain why the name Pappa col Pomodoro came to evoke something beyond Tuscan cooking. First the book and then television carried it beyond the family table without changing its character: at Gian Burrasca's boarding school, its very simplicity was what made it so much more desirable than the rice soup the boys were forced to eat every day.