Wonderful rainy Sunday…

Yesterday turned out to be a deliciously wonderful rainy Sunday here in San Francisco.  The day started with brunch at Farmer Brown – soul food!  I can think of no other way to start the day than with Farmer Brown’s amazing brunch.  All you can eat scrumptious fried chicken, biscuits & gravy, perfectly cooked bacon, grits, amazing scrambled eggs and the urban decor…it’s a must try!  Needless to say after brunch all I wanted to do was to curl up on the sofa and watch some TV.

I found out that Ina Garten’s, The Barefoot Contessa, can be streamed right from the Food Network website.  I was so very excited!  In one of the shows she was making Pappa al Pomodoro, which is a classic tomato soup from the Tuscany region in Italy.   The soup is fairly simple to make and tastes out of this world.   This is my take on her recipe.

Pappa al Pomodoro

½ cup olive oil
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 onions diced
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 28 ounce can of crush tomatoes
8 thick slices of bacon, chopped
1 bulb of fennel, diced
3 cups of ciabatta bread cut into 1 inch cubes
4 cups of chicken stock
½ cup red wine
1 cup of chopped basil
1 cup parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper

In a large casserole heat oil.  Add the carrots, fennel and onion and cook on medium heat for 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes.  While this is cooking brown the bacon in a separate skillet.  When the bacon is done add it to the casserole.  Add the ciabatta and cook for 5 minutes.  Now add the tomatoes, red wine, chicken stock, basil, 1 tablespoons of salt and 1 tablespoon of pepper.  Stir together and bring to boil.  Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer partially covered for 20 minutes.  Add the parmesan cheese, stir and continue to simmer partially covered for another 25 minutes.

The soup is easy, delicious and satisfying.  It tastes even better the longer it sets.   Tonight I used the remaining ciabatta bread and made a grilled cheese with some really good cheddar cheese.  Perfection!