Tomato soup is among my daughter’s favourite dishes. For weeks now, if not months, she’s been badgering me into cooking this tomato soup. I kept asking her to be patient and wait for the tomatoes in our own garden to ripen – because this year we planted tomatoes for the first time in our small garden so this tomato soup recipe is a great opportunity for me to proudly present them to you.
An other reason to postpone the making of this soup is the tomato juice I made myself in the autumn, which it is now history. I didn’t really feel like I wanted to use store bought tomato paste or tomato passata for the soup. Although, if you haven’t got anything else, those are really good too, as you can see in the ingredient list below.
Anyway, today I gathered enough tomatoes to fill a small basket, both bigger and smaller, some round, others longish, some big, pulpy and curly. In short, all shapes and sizes of tomatoes, beautifully perfumed, sweet and tasty. I told to myself once again that nothing really compares to a home-grown tomato, left to ripen in the sun and mature while still on the plant, not in some sort of warehouse. These being said, I got down to work and I made my daughter the tomato soup in question, whose simple recipe but always appreciated by my family I want to share with you.
Tomato Soup – step by step instructions
Preparing the tomatoes
1. Let us go back to our tomato soup recipe: you could simply scald the tomatoes in hot water for 1 minute, so as to be able to peel them with ease. This time I chose to do something slightly different. I put the tomatoes on the hot grill, making sure to turn them on all sides, for 5 minutes. This technique led to a concentration of the aroma giving them a wonderful taste while also ensuring that the skin would easily come off. If you use canned tomatoes or passata, jump to step 2.
Preparing the soup
2. After removing their woody inside with a knife I put the peeled tomatoes in a suitable pot. I covered them with 1 liter of water. As well, you can just use as liquid maybe some vegetable or even chicken stock. If you choose chicken stock, obviously your soup will be not vegan anymore. Further, I added the bay leaves, the thyme stem and the basil one and just a pinch of salt. Finally I let them boil. If you choose to use passata or canned tomatoes, just bring them together with the liquid in a pot and add the herbs and salt.
3. Meanwhile, peel, wash and dice the vegetables in small bits and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in another pot. Add all vegetables at once. Cook the diced veggies until soft, at low temperature. You shouldn’t brown them at all – it would only spoil the final taste of our tomato soup. As soon as the vegetables are soft, add about a cup of hot water (200 ml.). Continue to simmer.
4. After boiling for approx. 10 minutes, remove the pot with the tomatoes from the hob. Take out the bay leaves and the thyme. Mash the tomatoes using the stick blender. You could also pass them through a sieve, especially if someone in your family is allergic to the seeds.
5. Add the mashed tomatoes over the simmered vegetables. Fill with water until you reach the desired consistency. The soup can either be creamier or more liquid – depends on how you like it. At this stage you need to season the soup with a tablespoon of sugar, salt and pepper to taste. The sugar is necessary to balance the acidity of the tomatoes.
6. Keep boiling the tomato soup until the vegetables reach the desired consistency. As I prefer, I keep their texture a bit crispy, rather than be very soft. If you wish, you can also mash the vegetables in the soup, and then you would get a creamy texture.
How we serve it?
7. If you prefer to serve the tomato soup with pasta, boil the pasta (some very tiny ones) in about 2 l of salted water according to the instructions on the packaging. Strain the pasta and refresh them with some cold water. Mix with a drop of oil to prevent them from becoming sticky and keep aside, adding them to the tomato soup just before serving.
According to my taste, I prefer this tomato soup more than with anything else with toasted bread seasoned with garlic and a greenish drop of olive oil trickling along.
No matter how you choose to serve it is just as delicious so there is nothing else left for me to do but to wish you bon appétit!
Roasted Tomato Soup
Materials
- 1.5-2 kg tomatoes well ripened or 1 litre of tomato passata
- 80 grams onion
- 120 grams carrots
- 40 grams celery root 1 piece of the size of a small egg
- 60 grams bell pepper 1/2 of a medium bell pepper
- 1 piece garlic clove
- 30 ml. olive oil extra virgin
- 1 l water vegetable or chicken stock may be used, as well
- 3 piece bay leaves
- 1 stem fresh thyme
- 1 stem basil
- 3-4 leaves basil or green parsley to garnish as preferred
- 1 tablespoon sugar or your preferred sweetener
- 1,5 tsp salt
- 0,5 tsp black pepper freshly ground
to serve
- 1/5 cup risoni or other type of short pasta or bread croutons seasoned with garlic, which I prefere
Instructions
- You can simply scald the tomatoes in hot water for 1 minute, so as to be able to peel them with ease. Or you can put the tomatoes on the hot grill, making sure to turn them on all sides, for 5 minutes. This technique also ensuring that the skin would easily come off. If you use canned tomatoes or passata, jump to step 2.
- Remove the woody inside of the tomatoes with a knife. Put the peeled tomatoes in a pot and cover them with 1 liter (1/4 gallon) of water. You can use as liquid vegetable or even chicken stock, too. Add the bay leaves, the thyme stem and the basil one and just a pinch of salt. Bring all to boil. In you choose to use passata or canned tomatoes, just bring them together with the liquid in a pot and add the herbs and salt.
- Meanwhile, peel, wash and dice the vegetables in small bits and crush the garlic. Heat the oil in another pot and add all vegetables at once. Cook the diced veggies until soft, at low temperature. When the vegetables are soft, add about a cup of hot water (200 ml.) and continue to boil.
- After approx. 10 minutes of boiling, remove the pot with the tomatoes from the hob. Take out the bay leaves and thyme. Mash the tomatoes using the stick blender (you could also pass them through a sieve, especially if someone in your family is allergic to the seeds).
- Add the mashed tomatoes over the simmered vegetables and fill with water until you reach the desired consistency. The soup can either be creamier or more liquid – depends on how you like it. Season the soup with a tablespoon of sugar (necessary to balance the acidity of the tomatoes), salt and pepper to taste.
- Keep boiling the tomato soup until the vegetables reach the desired consistency. As I prefer, I keep their texture a bit crispy, rather than be very soft. If you wish, you can also mash the vegetables in the soup, and then you would get a creamy texture.
- According to my taste, I prefer this tomato soup more than with anything else with toasted bread seasoned with garlic and a drop of olive oil. The soup can be served with small pasta, if you prefere.Boil the pasta (some very tiny ones) in about 2 l of salted water according to the instructions on the packaging. Strain the pasta and refresh them with some cold water. Mix with a drop of oil to prevent them from becoming sticky and keep aside, adding them to the tomato soup just before serving.
Nutrition
