TOMATO SOUP
Sadly, I think tomato soup has a bit of a bad reputation. This may be so because, firstly, it is so easy to get wrong, and secondly, it is one of most well-known and possibly over made soups in the western world, which, over the years, has been ruined by its own popularity and mass-production.
But over the course of my life, filled with bowls of sorrowful tomato soup, there was one! The one that I had in a restaurant called, Teatro del Sale in Florence. It was a tomato and bread soup that was literally the best soup and quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. When I spoke to the waiter to ask what was in the soup: basil? onions? garlic? sundried tomatoes? The same answer always came back. No. The soup was simply made with tomatoes, bread, water and olive oil. The reason why this soup was so good was down to the quality of the tomatoes themselves. (The tomatoes, bread and olive oil… maybe also the water??). I believe this to be true, since the closest I have ever come to achieving a similarly tomato-packed flavour was when I lived in Southern California and grew my own sun-saturated, organic, tomatoes. And yet, it still lacked that delicacy of the one in Florence.
I have to admit, this recipe does not taste the same as the one in Florence (and the same goes for the one in California). I had to give up on the aspiration of ever achieving what happened in Teatro del Sale as I can only assume that that soup was crafted by gods. So, instead, I decided to create a recipe bursting with fresh tomato flavour that makes you feel that even if it is a rather rainy and gloomy day in the middle of August, this soup can comfort you with the knowledge that it is still indeed the height of summer.
There is, however, one strict requirement, that this soup be made at the peak of the tomato season when there is a broad range of incredibly ripe tomatoes, as opposed to the anaemic ones that you see outside of summer. And this probably goes without saying, if you can grow your own, then all the better. To make this soup, I intentionally used three different types of tomatoes, which provide slightly different flavours and consistency to achieve a soup that has both depth and body. Plums provide the flesh that gives body, vine reds provide juiciness and the marcelli have an intensely ripe tomato flavour. It also does require more effort than sauteing some tomatoes in a pan before blitzing or, I dare say, reaching for a can of Campbells — saying that, I have yet to use a can opener that does not break halfway through using it or is so convoluted in its design that I end up feeling completely at a loss as to how to attach it to the can itself. But this is a recipe and the step of roasting the tomatoes first is worth it. Slow roasting them in the oven really concentrates the flavours and also brings out a natural sweetness.
Personally, I think it is a great way to start eating seasonally and also, as it counts as one of your five a day, justifies the melted cheese sandwich that goes perfectly with it! I hope this recipe will encourage you to explore the vast selection of different tomatoes available in summer and also experiment with different types to make it your own.
Ingredients
Serves 6
1.5k vine red tomatoes
300k marcelli tomatoes
300k plum tomatoes
1/2 medium sized onion
1 garlic clove
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Handful of basil leaves
Olive oil
150–200ml boiling water
Method
1. Cut the vine red (regular tomatoes) and marcelli tomatoes in half. The plum tomatoes may need to be cut into quarters.
2. Toss the tomatoes in a little olive oil and lay the tomatoes cut side up in a baking tray.
3. Roast the plum and marcelli tomaotes in the oven for 25 min at 200C until a little brown.
4. Roast the vine red tomatoes in the oven for 40 min until a little brown.
5. Chop finely the half onion and sauté in a little olive oil in a frying pan until golden. Do not let it become too golden otherwise the soup will lose its freshness.
6. Transfer the roasted tomatoes and sautéed onions to a sauce pan and add 1 clove of grated garlic.
7. Add 150ml of boiling hot water to the sauce pan, stir well to combine and bring to a gentle simmer.
8. Blitz with a hand blender and add more water as needed until the desired consistency is achieved.
9. Roughly chop a couple sprigs of basil, add to the pot and blitz until smooth.
