Under The Pergola Recipe Share: Tamara's Tomato Bread Soup after a day at the Sagaponack Horse Show

Tamara's Tomato Bread Soup,

Using Leftovers on a Busy August Day!

This recipe uses a combination of yellow and red cherry tomatoes and New Jersey beefsteak tomatoes.

fresh basil from my cutting garden, easy as a snip with scissors 

 after a long day at the Sagaponack Horse Show

a delicious but quick dinner Under The Pergola 

Gabby and Adonis

 Topping Riding Club is one of the oldest equestrian 

centers in the East End of Long Island.  It was the original site for the famous Hampton Classic before it moved to Snake Hollow Road in Bridgehampton, Long Island.

For the  history of riding in the Hamptons, check out this 

Video of Patrick Rice (Gabby's talented horse trainer) interviewed about the  Topping Riding Club, the Hampton Classic and the horse world in 2007

Summer 2015 is moving at record speed, and I've been busy with family activities, hosting guests, and working on a few decorating projects in the Hamptons (not to mention I'm launching a brand new home fabric company with business partner Susan Young called Root Cellar Designs, but more on that later) so there is little time for cooking from scratch lately.  Today, we headed to the Sagaponack Horse Show in order for Gabby to compete in the Adult Hunter division on a trainer's lovely "green" steed named Adonis (in horse lingo green means a young or inexperienced horse).  Gabby's role, having only ridden this horse twice, is to help get him on a little program and gain him experience in a Hunter division horse show.  The Sagaponack show is held on one of the oldest and most lovely equestrian farms in the south fork of eastern long island called Topping Riding Club.  Spending all day in a grassy field overlooking the ocean is certainly a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, and since this was the same grassy spot of Gabby's very first (the first of many since then) equestrian event when she was six years old, it is nostalgic as well.  Gabby will head back to college in a few weeks  so we are relishing family time together.  When returning home after a long day we had worked up an appetite and it was dinner time. Since I had hosted friends from out of town for a small barbecue the night before, I had a few leftovers still in the fridge, including some of the garden fresh tomato and basil bruschetta I had served over toasts.  We quickly whipped up our favorite summer soup using the ingredients to make a summer tomato bread soup.  We love this soup and it is like a summer garden in a piping hot bowl utilizing garden fresh tomatoes and basil.  I first tasted it at trattoria in Rome, and now I find it regularly on the menu at one of our favorite East Hampton restaurants, Cittanuova.  It's flavorful, filling and perfect served simply with fresh grated parmigiana cheese.  The leftover bruschetta mixture (cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil) worked as a perfect start to our soup.  Next, we used the homemade garlic toasts I created for the bread, and the crunchy texture of these toasts are a perfect consistency to stand up to all that liquid and although they get soft and mushy, they hold their form a bit.  Now, if you don't have these in your fridge, let me give you my recipe to whip this up during one of your busy summer evenings.  I hope you are enjoying these Dog Days of summer, reading a book, enjoying the ocean breeze, sitting out in a park or dining al fresco or simply taking in the August stars because before you know it winter will be here!

Tamara's Tomato Bread Soup

3 large beefsteak tomatoes (ripe - chop coarsely, discard seeds)

1 container cherry tomatoes (red and yellow combined cut in half each, squeeze out and discard most of the seeds)

1/2 Cup sliced fresh cut basil 

(I roll the basil and slice it thinly to avoid bruising)

2 garlic cloves sliced thin

1 small yellow onion chopped

3 pats of butter

1 quick pour of red wine

grated parmigiana cheese

homemade crusty garlic toasts 

(To make:  slice a baguette into chunky slices and place on a cookie sheet -- sprinkle parmigiana cheese on top, a generous amount of olive oil, one sliced garlic clove and toast it in the oven for 5-7 minutes, 

turning each piece once at 375 degree oven-let cool)

Soup:

saute the onion till translucent in an olive oil and butter combination, then add the garlic and toast on simmer for a minute.  Add the chopped tomatoes (both sizes) and bring to a boil, then simmer for five minutes until tomatoes start to break down.  Then add chicken broth/water combination, butter, wine and bread and bring to a boil again for a quick moment, then add the basil and simmer on low for 10-15 minutes until the entire pot is a mushy consistency.  

Serve with grated parmigiana cheese!

Happy Nesting

XO Tamara