Leftover bread soup

I have a fond memory of sitting in the sun room at my great aunt's little house in the north of Denmark with my sister, mother and grandmother (and of course my great aunt)...I must have been young at the time and remember being fascinated by the little strawberries she grew in the garden and the frozen bananas she kept in a large refrigerator in the attic.
While we sat at the table and enjoyed the sun, my mor-mor and her argued about the recipe for a danish dumpling soup and could not agree about how their mother made the dumplings... I want to recreate their recipe someday....I have always loved starchy soups whether they contain dumplings, or some kind of bread... its comfort in a bowl, especially when its April and Boston still feels like winter. I had a left baguette left over from dinner two days ago as well as some kale from a lentil and coconut soup recipe my friend Zach shared with me a few months ago and decided my fridge needed a bit of clearing up so I decided to whip up the following recipe:




Italian Bread Soup

Half a dry Baguette or other country bread
1 quart of cherry tomatoes
1/2 large onion
6 cloves of garlic
a handful of fresh kale
2 cups of chicken stock
Basil
Olive oil
2 cups of boiling water
Pepper
Salt
Chili flakes

Chop up the onion and garlic finely and heat up a tablespoon or two of olive oil in a soup pot. Cook the onions until golden and fragrant then add the entire quart of tomatoes (you can chop these in half but dont have to). Cut up the bread roughly and heat up the chicken stock in the microwave. Put the bread in a bowl and cover with the chicken stock allowing it to soak up the juices. In the mean time wait until the tomatoes let their juices out and become soft then add water and season with pepper, salt and chili flakes. Add the kale and the bread and cook for about 20 minutes until the bread resembles baby food. Keep adding water until the soup has the right consistency. Chop up some fresh basil for garnish and serve with a green salad or.... a cheddar cheese and hazelnut souffle........