Calabria
A hearty Calabrian bread soup — stale bread torn into pieces and cooked in a garlic, sun-dried tomato and olive oil broth until the bread absorbs everything and becomes dense, soft and richly flavoured. Calabrian dried peppers (cruschi) can be added for an extraordinary sweet-pepper dimension. This is the Calabrian version of the broader southern Italian tradition of using stale bread as a thickening agent.
Garlicky, tomatoey, richly olive-oily; the bread absorbs everything and becomes dense and soft; peperoncino adds persistent heat; cruschi crumbles give sweetness and crunch — poor food made extraordinary by excellent olive oil
{"Use bread at least 3 days old — fresh bread turns to paste; very stale bread absorbs without losing all structure","Fry the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes in abundant olive oil before adding water — this pre-infuses the oil with flavour","Tear the bread into irregular pieces — small, irregular pieces absorb more evenly than large chunks","Add peperoncino fresco (fresh Calabrian chilli) to the garlic — its heat blooms in the oil before the liquid is added","Cook covered for 20 minutes until the bread has absorbed all liquid, then uncover and stir to finish to the correct porridge consistency"}
{"Cruschi (fried dried Calabrian peppers) crumbled over the top at serving gives a sweet, crisp contrast","A fried egg broken over the top just before serving is the traditional 'complete meal' version","The soup is always better the next day reheated slowly in a pan with a splash of water"}
{"Fresh bread — it disintegrates into paste within 5 minutes of being added to the liquid","Too much liquid — the soup should be thick and spoonable, not soup-like; add liquid gradually","Cold olive oil finish — the final drizzle must be room-temperature or slightly warmed; cold oil doesn't flow and pool correctly"}
La Cucina Calabrese — Pane, Fritti e Tradizioni