Spicy creamy carrot soup with carasau bread

If you follow my Instagram account @francesca_verrucci you'd probably noticed that I make soups, mainly of the creamy variety, very often.

But I have almost no soup recipe published on the blog so far (with the exception of this pappa al pomodoro). And the reason is that in most cases my soups are the result of improvised recipes, created on the basis of the vegetables I have on hand at the moment - usually seasonal - and, let's say, the mood of the day (simple vs complex, rich vs light, spicy vs mild, smooth vs crunchy).

The result of this modus operandi?

On average a good dinner, with several cases of unexpectedly delicious dishes.

Some iPhone pictures taken just before eating the soup, that means bad artificial light (I usually make soups for dinner), zero styling, impromptu food arrangement, and not much time to take photos (just imagine to have somebody with the spoon in his hand, waiting for you to finish and sit at the table to start eating - and I don't like to eat cold food either).

Few Instagram posts - of course only when pictures are at least decent.

And ... no written recipe.

Pappa al pomodoro (Tuscan tomato and bread soup)

Pappa al pomodoro  is one of the most popular and prepared recipes of the Tuscan culinary tradition.

Literally pappa means mush (but it is also the term used to indicate semi-solid baby food) and, as almost anybody knows, pomodoro means tomato. From this description it doesn't sound so appetizing, does it? But, trust me, the only reason why this dish is so famous and timeless is that it is absolutely delicious, mainly thanks to its simplicity and "poor" origin.

And in fact this tomato and bread soup (this definition sound better indeed) is one of those classic Italian dishes created out of necessity, when it was not possible to waste food, not even a piece of stale bread, that has to be reused to make it still edible: in pappa al pomodoro old bread is cooked with ripe tomatoes (or even canned or preserved ones when fresh are not available), garlic and / or onion, a generous quantity of extra virgin olive oil, some liquid (stock, when available, or salted water), salt, pepper (or chili in some versions) until everything turns into a thick, creamy and really comforting soup.