Tomato and basil soup, it is a bit of a classic. I have tried so many different variations of this soup but the basics are always the same. The most important thing is to get good tasty tomatoes. If your tomatoes taste like sawdust then you might as well not bother.
One thing I massively realised going to Italy was how bad the fruit and veg back home tasted in comparison, I rushed home with all the new recipes I had learnt and recreated them following every step to the letter, but no matter what I did, it just didn’t taste the same. Ok maybe the fact I was eating it in cold wet London and not sunny Italy with a glass of red by my side might have had something to do with it but i also quickly realised it was the quality of the produce I was using.
I went to my local farm shop thinking that buying a few bits was probably going to come to a national debt but the difference is price wasn’t as big as i thought, most items where around the same price as the supermarket and the taste was a thousand times better. It also felt good using a small local business rather than a big supermarket and well I have used them ever since. I am not saying we are all fortunate enough to live near a reasonably priced farm shop, however, taste the ingredients before you use them, do they taste good? To be frank, my dad always says you cant shine a turd and if you adopt that concept to your cooking, it will make for much tastier meals.
What you need..
- 500g of Tomatoes
- 200g baby plum tomatoes
- 250g of Passata
- 4 x Cloves of Garlic
- 1 red onion
- 4 celery sticks
- 1 1/2 Handful of Chopped Basil
- 6 Cups of vegetable stock
- 1/2 tbsp Sweetener
- 1 tbsp Worcester sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
Serves: 6 Prep Time: 5 minutes Syn Free
Cook Time: 40 Minutes on gas mark 180 and 15 minutes to simmer
How its done…
- Preheat your oven and then take your 500g of tomatoes, mine were on a vine so I kept them on the vine, whole and placed on the baking tray. Quarter your onions and also place on the tray with you garlic.
- Spray with fry light, lightly season and pop in the oven until they are soft, should take around 40 minutes.
- Chop your celery and add them to a large pot with the baby plum tomatoes , add a little fry light and saute.
- Add the roasted tomatoes, onion and garlic, give it a good stir and leave to cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the vegetable stock, passata, sweetener and soy sauce leave to simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Take the pot off the heat and add half of the chopped basil, blitz the mixtures until smooth, add the second half of your basil and give it a final blitz and add salt and pepper to taste.
tootsies-kitchen.com 