A soup made of tinned tomatoes, flour, oil and salt. Written down like that it sounds like hardship food, and eaten it is anything but — rich, thick, and far more than the sum of four cheap things.
Use whole plum tomatoes rather than chopped if you have the choice. Chopped tomatoes are usually made from lesser fruit and are often firmed up with calcium salts, which is why they keep their cubes; crushed by hand, plum tomatoes break down into something much softer.
- Make a flatbread first: 120 g flour, salt, about 75 ml water, kneaded briefly and cooked in the dry pan for 90 seconds a side. Set aside and tear into rough pieces.
- Same pan, oil in, garlic granules and oregano for thirty seconds.
- Tomatoes in, crushed in your hand as they go. Add about 200 ml water, salt, and simmer 15 minutes.
- Stir the torn bread through and cook another 5 minutes, breaking it up with the spoon. It should be thick enough that the spoon leaves a trail.
- Off the heat. A serious amount of olive oil over the top — more than feels reasonable. That is the dish.
Best eaten warm rather than hot, which also means it is forgiving about timing.
Serves 2.