Leftover Soup

Next up in Easy Recipes I Like:

Pappa al Pomodoro

At its simplest, this is an easy, cheap, delicious soup and a good way to use that stale bread that you'd otherwise throw out. If you wanna get fancy, it's a catchall for all your leftover bits and pieces. The basic recipe comes from my semester abroad in Italy; the variations are whatever I ate the night before.

-Stale Italian bread, sliced thin
-olive oil
-butter
-onion
-garlic
-chopped herbs (marjoram, oregano, parsley, basil, whatever)
-chicken broth
-canned tomatoes
-salt & pepper to taste
-pinch o' cayenne (optional. but then isn't everything?)
-grated parmeggiano or romano cheese.

1) Chop the onion fine and saute it in oil and butter til it's translucent. Add the garlic and saute til it smells good.

2) Rip the bread into small pieces and add it to the pot. Swirl it around until it's soaked up lots of oil and garlic.

3) If you've got crushed or diced tomatoes, pour them straight into the pot. If they're whole, chop them up first. Add a cup or two of chicken broth, the herbs, and cayenne.

4) Let it cook, stirring occasionally, until everything's nice and mushy. Add the cheese and S&P to taste. To smooth it out, put in in the blender or a food processor, put it through a potato ricer, use an immersion blender, or try a potato masher. Or just eat it lumpy; that's good too.

Variations:
After blending, add:
-cooked pasta (for extra carbs)
-cooked rice (ditto)
-cooked ground beef/lamb/turkey/pork/whatever
-cooked sausage or little meatballs
-leftover meat, chopped up
-the juices from said leftover meat
-spinach
-white beans
-other veggies
-and/or whatever else you need to get out of the fridge