1 lb of plum or other meaty fresh tomatoes
1-2 shallots, finely minced
1 T pancetta, finely minced (optional)
4 T marscapone cheese
olive oil, salt, pepper
Garlic toasts
1 whole peeled clove of garlic
4-6 slices of baguette style bread
olive oil, salt
Place the raw whole tomatoes in a saucepan and cover with water, set on the stove to boil, when the water is boiling, shut the heat off and let the tomatoes sit for 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle. Run the tomatoes through a food mill on a medium coarse blade, this will take off the skins, hold back the seeds and reduce the tomato to pulp. Alternatively if you don’t have a food mill, peel, seed and chop the tomatoes. Try to work over the soup pot so that you don’t loose too much of the tomato water.
In the soup pot, before adding the tomato pulp, gently sauté the shallots and pancetta trying not to brown the shallots. Add the tomato pulp and let simmer for about 20 minutes. When the soup has been cooking for about 20 minutes, using either a stick blender or food processor, add in the marscapone cheese and return to the heat but only for a minute. You just want to have the soup be hot to eat, not to cook the marscapone. Check the flavor and add salt and pepper to taste.
For the garlic toasts: take your slices of baguette, day old bread is best and lightly toast them in the oven, when the bread is toasted, rub the garlic clove over the bread, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and a tiny sprinkle of salt. This is called ‘bruschetta’ in Umbria and is some of the best garlic bread ever!
And the table for two part? I got tired of eating in the kitchen so I set up a little, romantic table for two at the entrance to our back balcony. Our balcony is too small to sit on, but its just fine for the two of us to enjoy a tomato soup lunch. Who knew tomato soup could be so indulgent?
