Marika Contaldo Seguso’s Tomato and Bread Soup

For Marika Contaldo Seguso, event planner, cookbook author and native of Milan who now resides in Venice, pappa al pomodoro, or Italian tomato and bread soup, is a simple but satisfying meal that comes together quickly. To boot, it requires only a handful of ingredients that she typically has on hand. A crusty, rustic day-old loaf that’s cut into cubes and left out at room temperature for a day or so is best; if your bread is fresh and you need to stale it in a hurry, cut it into ½-inch cubes, then dry it on a rimmed baking sheet in a 450°F oven for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Seguso says that pappa al pomodoro purists might balk at the Parmesan garnish, but the cheese is a typical Tuscan flourish for the soup.