CityMama™

Pappa al Pomodoro (Tuscan Tomato-Bread Soup)

This is for you, Lisa K!

First things first—I am so late in posting my weekly menu, but I am going to the grocery store now and will post it later. Or tomorrow.

This has to be one of the cheapest, tastiest, and yummiest dinners one can make. It's comforting and satisfying, and yet at the same time is very humble. There is nothing fancy about combining stale bread, tomatoes, and water, but the fact that it tastes like a complicated, indulgent meal makes this one of my favorites.

It's not only a nice way to use up leftover bread, but it's a way to get all the flavors of a pasta dinner without making pasta.

"Pappa" loosely translated, is Italian for "pablum" or "pap," mushy food that children eat. (Now you know where the Peg Perego "Prima Pappa" high chair got its name—sounds much more elegant than "First Mushy Food," doesn't it?) Hopefully the children in your house (if you have them) will eat this, too.

PAPPA AL POMODORO

This soup is ready in less than 30 minutes and serves 4 for dinner.

• 2-3 glugs of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 loaf of rustic Italian bread or French baguette (not sourdough), cut into 1-2 inch cubes
• 1 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes + their juice (I prefer San Marzanos for their sweetness)
• 1 quart of water
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• optional garnishes: finely shredded fresh basil and or grated pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano cheese.

In a soup pot, heat olive oil and garlic over medium heat being careful not to burn the garlic. Once the garlic starts to brown, remove it from the pot. Add the bread stirring to coat with oil. Cook bread in oil for 1-2 minutes. Dump in the tomatoes and water, bring to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occassionally. Just before serving, mash up the bread and tomatoes with the back of a spoon or (what I prefer) whiz with a stick blender until chunky. Check seasonings. Serve in shallow bowls with a drizzle of olive oil on top. If you want other embellishments (my girls love this with cheese), see above.

Note: If you have leftovers, you can do what I did today for our lunch and grill some mild and sweet Italian sausages and serve these sliced up in the soup. Not "traditional," but oh-so-good!

They eat what we eat

Barring the initial stages of introducing solid foods, my kids have always eaten what we've eaten. At first their portions contained less salt, but never less herbs or spice (unless we were eating something really pepper-y). I never understood why people would feed their children bland meals. (Do you like chicken with nothing on it?) Or worse, make something tasteless while the adults eat something yummy. I want my children to have a developed palate and experience lots of flavors, so after they were 7 months old, I stopped cooking them "baby food."

I grew up eating prosciutto, crostini di fegato, and bottarga; chawan mushi, sushi, and sashimi; kimchi, cool noodles and kalbi; peking duck, dim sum, and thousand year old eggs, and I want my children to do the same. My mom made almost everything from scratch from pasta sauce to Korean mung mean pancakes, and, a barring the occassional foray into boxed mac and cheese- and Morningstar Farm-ville (I'm no martyr, trust me), I strive to do the same. I strongly believe that cooking good, fresh food (it doesn't have to be complicated at all) is the way to teach children to appreciate and enjoy food.

I'm sharing this in case you are worried about what your children can eat.  Of course, use your own best judgment, but my own kids have never had a problem eating adult food and my pediatrician actually encourages it. My mother-in-law has a peanut allergy, but around their first birthdays, they both tasted peanut butter sandwiches under careful scrutiny (and with 911 at the ready). They're fine. Reckless?  Maybe, but how else are you going to find out? And waiting until age three for nuts? That's just crazy to me. (I do understand the medical reasons behind it, but still, crazy.)

I'm not quite sure how picky eaters are created (or if they are born that way), but I have my own ideas. In general, though, I think if kids are exposed to lots of different foods in an environment where they see their parents cooking and enjoying lots of different foods, that's half the battle. Not forcing kids to eat or playing other "food games" is also important.  So is involving your child in meal preparation in age-appropriate ways.

Flip through cook books and cooking magazines with your children.  Bunny loves doing that.  She points to all the things she likes and we talk about what makes them so good. If you are lucky enough to have a garden that you eat from, I think that helps. (We have to settle for going to farmer's markets where the girls can taste everything.) Then again, kids really do have minds of their own, so who knows.

We don't have hard-and-fast rules about food in our house, but I do have guidelines I feel are important. We sit at the table and eat (no walking around with food). I serve lots of vegetables and fruits. We do try to limit sweets, but some juice is fine. We don't usually eat dessert, but when we do it's often fruit. They don't ever have to clear their plates, but they do have to taste new things (licking doesn't count). If they don't like what's for dinner and they are hungry they can have yogurt or an apple, but that option is rarely excersized. (I can think of one time Bunny went that route.)  Of the combination of things I serve for dinner, they can usually find something they like to eat.

Both kids started out eating everything and then Bunny, my four-year-old, developed her own ideas about what she liked and how she liked them. She doesn't really flat-out refuse much of anything (cooked pineapple, bean sprouts, cooked spinach, and raw fish come to mind), rather, she's particular about how she wants it served: pasta without "too much tomato sauce," for example.

Wallie, my two-year-old (tomorrow!), still eats mostly everything, but we expect some pickiness to be rearing its head soon.

Until then, we continue to put what were eating in front of them (wild salmon, rice, broccoli, salad):

And they continue to gobble it up (Wallie asked for three helpings of salad and seconds of salmon, Bunny asked for more rice. Dessert is frozen grapes):

Why do I cook the way I do?  It's partly for me and partly for my children. The fact that they will eat it? Why yes, I do feel lucky! And proud!

PASTA THAT REMINDS ME OF MY CHILDHOOD

My favorite "warms-the-heart," comforting pasta dish is the one I grew up eating: spaghetti con burro e pomodori. My mom was a working mom so it was a dish she could throw together quickly. The beauty of this sauce, like so many good pasta sauces, is that in the time it takes to boil the pasta water and cook the pasta, it's done. The recipe is simple, but the key is to use the best ingredients you can get your hands on. Don't skimp on quality. Buon appetito!

Spaghetti con burro e pomodori (Spaghetti with butter and tomato sauce)

Put pasta water on to boil. Salt it generously. When water boils, add in 1 package of (thick) spaghetti. Cook about 1 minute less than package indicates for al dente pasta.

In the mean time, melt 1/2 cup of unsalted, best-quality butter in a saute pan ove medium heat.  When butter starts to foam, add 2 cloves of minced garlic.  Heat until butter smells garlicky and is completely melted then dump in a large can of imported San Marzano whole, peeled tomatoes. Smash tomatoes up with a wooden spoon.

Continue simmering until sauce is reduced by about a third, 20 minutes or so. Salt and pepper to taste. Toss with hot, cooked pasta. Pass the grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese. (My family is Roman, so we prefer pecorino romano.) Serves 4 as a main dish or 6 as a starter.

[photo: Stefania Pomponi Butler]

also posted on slashfood

COLD SOUP, HOT DAY

I have previously blogged about my love for soup. I have a soup thing and make it about once a week.  In the summer I love to make cold soups (gazpacho, cucumber) and sip them when the weather is hot. This recipe is my take on vichyssoise, the humble French potato-leek soup that is served cold.

Today I whipped this together while the girls were eating their breakfast.  I share this only to let you know that it doesn't take a lot of time.  While both children are occupied, that's my time to cook so I make the most of it!

FENNEL, LEEK AND POTATO SOUP

Your chopping technique doesn't matter here—you are going to puree this soup. And don't be put off by the pungent, black-licorice-smell of the raw fennel.  When it's cooked, it mellows and adds a nice sweetness to the soup.

1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 glugs olive oil
2 leeks, white and light green stem only, cleaned and chopped (reserve dark green leaves for stock)
2 fennel bulbs, white bulbs only, outer layer removed, chopped
2 cloves garlic
4 medium waxy potatoes, scrubbed (peeling optional, I don't)
1 box free-range chicken broth (+ more to thin soup if desired)
half and half, at least a quart
salt and pepper
creme fraiche and chives for garnish

In a heavy-bottom soup pot, melt butter and oil over medium-high heat.  When butter is foamy add the leeks, fennel, and garlic plus a pinch of salt.  Let the veggies sweat until they are softened, about 10 minutes. Stir occassionally and if butter starts to brown, reduce heat a touch.  Meanwhile, chop potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Add potatoes to the pot along with the box of chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat, cover and let simmer until potatoes are cooked though, about 20 minutes or so.  Remove from heat. Stir in a pint of half-and-half and then puree the soup completely with a stick blender.  (Important: If you use a regular blender let soup cool completely first.) If the soup starts to go all gluey as you puree it, keep adding splashes of half-and-half (or milk or water or broth or a combination) until soup returns to a velvety consistency. Taste for salt and pepper. Refrigerate. (You may have to thin again, see comments.) Serve very cold in chilled bowls with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream (if you like) and chopped chives.

A TASTY TWIST ON THE USUAL

I love potato salads, especially this one.

ROASTED ROOT VEG AND POTATO SALAD

6 Yukon gold potatoes, diced into large cubes
2 carrots, scrubbed but not peeled, diced into chunky batons
an onion, chopped
a head of garlic broken up and unpeeled
olive oil
one leafy green fennel stalk (for flavoring), save the bulb for another use (I used it for soup.)
very coarse salt and pepper
aged balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 350º. Place potatoes, carrots, onion, and garlic in a roasting pan and drizzle generously with olive oil.  Toss.  Sprinkle with coarse salt and grind pepper over.  Lay the fennel stalk on top of veggies.  Cover pan loosely with foil.  Roast covered for 20 minutes then remove foil and roast a further 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven, discard fennel, and then drizzle veggies with balsamic vinegar—not too much—2-3 times around the pan with your thumb over the opening of the bottle so vinegar flows out in a thin stream.  Toss, transfer to serving dish. Devour.

Parsnips, rutabagas, and/or beets would also be very tasty in this, as would a mixture of different colored potatoes.  Fresh parsley to garnish would also be yummy.