Tuscan Tomato Bread Soup with Clams and Bottarga

Method

1. Spurge the clams: soak 0.5 kg of vongole veraci in 1 L of water with 30 g of salt for about one hour, then rinse.
2. Finely chop half a red Tropea onion and two cloves of garlic.
3. In a large saucepan, add a generous layer of extra-virgin olive oil, then the chopped onion and garlic. Sauté until golden.
4. Add the tomato passata (about 2 jars or 500 g) and a splash of water from rinsing the jars. Season with abundant black pepper and a pinch of salt.
5. Cover and let the sauce cook on low heat for 15–20 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, prepare the bread: remove the crust if very hard, otherwise keep it. Cut the stale bread into cubes.
7. After the sauce has cooked, blend it with an immersion blender until smooth.
8. Add the bread cubes to the blended sauce, stir, cover, and let soften on lowest heat for 10–15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
9. While the bread softens, prepare the clams: in a wide pan, heat oil with garlic cloves in their skin, parsley stalks, and chili pepper.
10. Add the rinsed clams, cover, and cook for about 5 minutes until they open. Remove the clams from the shells, reserving the meat and the cooking liquid.
11. Whisk the bread soup vigorously until creamy and smooth.
12. Strain the clam cooking liquid into the soup and stir in plenty of fresh basil leaves.
13. Adjust seasoning, then plate the soup, top with the clam meat, and finish with a generous grating of bottarga di muggine and a drizzle of raw olive oil.