Tomato Bread Soup

I had been looking forward to trying out this recipe since I read it. It sounded so appealing: fresh in-season tomatoes, spicy sausage, silky bread. So when I picked up a bunch of lovely tomatoes at the farm stand it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Tomato Bread Soup
via Wednesday Chef

Ingredients:

• 4 T extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, slivered
• 4 oz chorizo (casings removed), cubed
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 3 lbs ripe tomatoes, peeled
• generous pinch saffron threads
• 2 c crustless country bread, finely diced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 T minced flat-leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large sauté pan. Add garlic and cook over low heat till soft. Add chorizo, raise heat and cook until starting to brown. Stir in paprika. Remove from heat.
2. Place a sieve over the pan, halve tomatoes horizontally and hold cut side down over sieve as you gently squeeze to remove seeds and allow juice to fall into pan. Remove sieve. Reserve tomato pulp. Heat juice in pan until warm, add saffron and set aside off heat 10 minutes.
3. Finely chop tomato pulp by hand or in food processor. Add to pan and bring to a simmer. Stir in bread. Cook, stirring, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to stand, off heat, stirring from time to time, until room temperature, about 30 minutes. Fold in parsley and serve.

Comments & Modifications:

• I discovered at the last minute that our leftover good bread was kind of bad, so we substituted regular white sandwich bread.
• I hate parsley. We left it out.
  

Verdict: This was okay. I think the substitution of regular sandwich bread was a mistake, because it tasted more slimy than silky. Also, there was a strange plasticky flavor to the soup, which could have come from either the chorizo or the saffron; I suspect the saffron. Next time I use it I'll be more cautious about adding a "generous pinch".