Tomato bread soup

Ingredients for 3 servings:

• 300 g bread(s) or rolls, stale, can also be rock hard and 2 weeks old
• 1 liter tomato juice or tomato-vegetable juice
• 1 gr. can/n tomatoes, chunky, peeled or chopped or pizza tomatoes
• 1 cup of cream, approx. 200 g or 80 g butter
• Olive oil, soy cream, vegetable margarine or similar.
• Rosemary and/or caraway, 1/2 tsp each
• 1 onion(s), if using pure tomato juice
• Garlic clove(s), 2 – 4, for pure tomato juice
• nutmeg
• coriander
• pepper
• chili powder
• Salt or herb salt (depending on the salt content of the bread and vegetable juice)
• Cheese, grated or diced, optional

Instructions

Working time approx. 10 minutes; Rest time approx. 8 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 8 hours 20 minutes

Bread leftovers, vegetarian, also vegan possible

All of the seasoning ingredients are variable. Place the bread or rolls in a pot and pour over the vegetable-tomato juice or tomato juice and the peeled or chopped tomatoes. Depending on your taste and the type of bread, add a little rosemary and/or caraway seeds and let it swell. I use 1/2 teaspoon each. Now soak the bread for 30 minutes to 3 hours, depending on its hardness, or leave it overnight. Once the bread has softened a bit, you can stir it a bit and break it up with a spoon; it will then cook automatically. If you need it faster, heat the vegetable/tomato juice and the canned tomatoes and let the bread swell in this heated liquid in a covered pot. You wouldn’t believe it, but over time, even rock-hard bread will absorb all the liquid, become completely soggy, fall apart into small pieces, and form a thick mush. If you’re using pure tomato juice, you can peel and chop 1 onion and/or 2-4 cloves of garlic, and add them to the soup. If you’re using tomato and vegetable juice, this isn’t absolutely necessary, as this often already contains leeks, cress, parsley, celery, and the like, which makes the soup very flavorful on its own. Now add cream or butter. For a vegan version, use olive oil, soy cream, or vegetable margarine. Heat everything over medium to low heat, stirring constantly if possible, as otherwise it will quickly burn or stick to the bottom. This will cause the bread to swell even further. If the mixture is now too mushy for you and you prefer a more soupy texture, add a little more water, milk, or tomato/vegetable juice. You can bring everything to a boil briefly, perhaps to reduce the spiciness of the onion and garlic, and to heat everything just to eating temperature. Now season the porridge or soup to taste with nutmeg and/or coriander. If you like it spicier, you can add pepper and/or chili, and salt or herb salt. If you have any, you can serve the soup/porridge garnished with cheese. But it’s delicious on its own too!