Fresh tomatoes are in plentiful supply at the moment so why not make a
delicious soup out of all those tomatoes whether they are lying around
in the fridge or waiting to be picked? With fresh tomatoes, the softer
they are, the more flavour they get so if they've gone over slightly and
really need using now, this recipe is ideal as soup freezes really well
too.
My recipe is based on Rick Stein's but I found his a little, dare I say, tasteless? That's really unusual for Rick as I
love his recipes normally, but as I've also found the same effect using
fresh tomatoes in pasta sauces, maybe it's really about the varieties I
can get hold of around here rather than the cooking. Whatever the case,
I've modified it by adding a good dollop of tomato puree and the
remains of a jar of sun dried tomatoes and their oil added to add to the
flavour along with a few basic vegetables and I've managed to get what I
was looking for. I hope you enjoy it, let me know how you make your
tomato soup or what variations you make.
These quantities make 5 decent helpings but you can easily change the quantities to suit whatever you have.
Ingredients
For the soup
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion
1 large carrot
1 stick celery
4 large garlic cloves
A good pinch of chilli flakes
1.2 Kg really ripe tomatoes, a mix of varieties is ideal
Half a tube of double concentrate tomato puree
1 jar of sun dried tomatoes
Salt and black pepper to taste
For the tapenade
200g pitted black olives - I find Teso olives in v=brine are good enough
8 anchovy fillets - alternatively use a jar of roasted peppers to make a vegetarian version
20g capers
A little olive oil to loosen the mix
Method
Heat the oil in a large pan. Peel and roughly chop the onion, carrot
and celery and add them to the oil over a medium to low heat - you want
them to soften without colouring. Skin, crush and chop the garlic into
large chunks and add these to the veg along with the chilli flakes.
While the veg are softening, get the tomatoes ready by washing them then
chopping them roughly. When you've prepped them all, add them to the
pan with a teaspoon of salt, bring to a steady boil, cover and simmer
for 30 minutes.
While the soups cooking, make the tapenade by putting all the
ingredients into a blender goblet and whizz with a stick blender until
it's finely mixed. You may need to add little olive oil to thin the
mix down but aim for a hummus like consistency that can be spread on a
cracker or toast.
Once the tomatoes have cooked, blend everything with a stick
blender. Heat through and serve with a good spoonful of tapenade stirred
in and plenty of toast or bread.
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