The hill towns of Umbria are different from those of Tuscany or southern France. Although just as vertiginous and gloriously medieval, as commanding in their viewpoint and as sinister in their side streets, they lack something: visitors and commerce. The paper shop in Montegabbione sells local newspapers and bits of stationery. There are no Daily Mails or sets of plastic boules. There are three bars: one run by an old woman who plays cards with her geriatric boyfriends; the second, a working man’s club. I never found the third. The alimentaria is run by a woman from Puglia, genial in the extreme but very particular about her mozzarella; the butcher’s shop is owned by a woman who is extremely proud of her sausages and wields a mean cleaver.

There are no holidaying couples, Fendi handbags or pampered children. In fact, there aren’t many people about at all. Matrons cluster outside the alimentaria. Old boys gather in the club and drink the occasional Amaro or glass of wine. You are greeted as a fellow human being than as a sucker to be taken advantage of.

There are few restaurants and even food shops are thin on the ground. The only baker is seven kilometres away and his bread is every bit as unyielding and as lacking in salt as it would be over the border in Tuscany. There is a refreshing lack of plenitude. Lack of choice is just what one wants on holiday. The butcher has rabbit, beef, veal and sausages today; lamb may be available on Friday.

The greengrocer has green beans, aubergines, peppers, a lettuce and tomatoes. There are two types of the latter: huge, misshapen, orangey-green tomatoes, fragrant but firm for salads – or long, pointed San Marzano plum tomatoes for cooking. Given the rich, sweet flavour of all these offerings, that is about as much choice as one needs.

Rowley Leigh is the chef at Le Café Anglais

rowley.leigh@ft.com

More columns at www.ft.com/leigh

.....................

Tomato time

Pappa al pomodoro

After two weeks of barbecues, paellas and risottos, bruschetti with lardo di Colonnata and tagliatelle with summer truffles, I do not think anything was quite as well received as this tomato soup. The stock is not essential but good tomatoes are. Serves 6-8.

Ingredients
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil
1kg tomatoes
Salt and white pepper
300g stale bread
1 litre chicken stock
10 basil leaves, torn
Grated parmesan

Method
● Finely chop the onion and garlic and stew them for 10 minutes in three tablespoons of olive oil until soft. Peel the tomatoes (by blanching for 15 seconds in boiling water), then halve them and remove the seeds. Chop the tomatoes coarsely and add them to the pot with a good pinch of salt and some milled white pepper. Stew very gently for 15 minutes.

● Tear the bread into small pieces, stir into the mass and let it absorb the tomato juice before adding a little stock. Proceed, simmering gently and adding a bit more stock until it becomes a “pappy” soup, quite thick and rich in tomato.

● Add the basil leaves and check the seasoning. Whisk in a little more olive oil and serve. The soup is best served at room temperature. I like to add grated parmesan.

...................

Panzanella

Another great use for dry bread. Serves 68.

Ingredients
Half a day-old loaf of coarse white bread
8 large ripe tomatoes
Half a cucumber
1 tsp sea salt
Half tsp milled black pepper
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic
2 red onions
1 tbs capers
12 black olives, stoned
30 basil leaves

Method
● With a serrated knife, remove the crusts from the loaf. Using your fingertips, tear the bread into very coarse breadcrumbs. Lay these on a tray and leave them to dry out in a warm place for one hour.

● Meanwhile, prepare the salad ingredients. Peel the tomatoes in the usual way and chop into large dice the size of your fingernail. Split the cucumber lengthways, scoop out the seeds and cut into half moons. Put these in a large bowl, together with the salt, pepper, olive oil and red wine vinegar.

● Chop the garlic very finely and add it to the bowl, together with the red onions cut in a fine dice. Add the capers, the stoned olives and mix. Add the bread to the bowl and mix again, adding the basil leaves torn in half. Add a little oil if the mixture is dry and taste for seasoning. Leave the salad to macerate at room temperature for an hour before serving.