Acquacotta

It wouldn’t be the least exaggeration to say that there are hundreds of variations of this simple soup - which is Italian for ‘cooked water’ - many of which are nothing more than bread, water, a little olive oil and some herbs. This one, from the coastal Maremma part of Tuscany, is normally made with porcini mushrooms, perhaps still possible in Italy, but elsewhere an expensive solution to using up some stale bread. If you choose to omit the mushrooms altogether, double the amount of tomato