Roasted Tomato Soup

There is just something about soup in winter that is ever so comforting. And for me cooking the soup is as much a part of the enjoyment as eating it is. This tomato soup I made recently is just beautiful. It fills the house with beautiful aromatics that cause the soon to be recipients to salivate in anticipation.  if you make one soup this winter, please let it be this one.

Ingredients:

12 large tomatoes

6 cloves of garlic

1 leek

2 chillies

1 bunch sage

1 bunch basil

2 tablespoons of capers

Salt  and pepper to taste

Olive oil

Method:

Put all the tomatoes in a baking dish, drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.

Tear up half of the sage bunch and sprinkle that around the tomatoes.

Cut the ends off 3 of the garlic cloves and add them to the baking dish.

Bake the tomatoes, sage and garlic for about 1 hour at 180 degrees or until the liquid from the tomatoes has started to fill the dish and the tomato skins are looking slightly scorched.

When the tomatoes are roasted, take the garlic cloves out of the dish, squeeze the roasted garlic back into the dish and give them a bit of a mash.

Slice the leek, finely dice the chilli and remaining garlic and roughly chop the sage. Sauté all of the chopped ingredients with some olive oil in a large pot, until leak has softened. Pour the entire contents of the baking dish into the pot and add the capers. Gently mash up the tomatoes as you are stirring and discard any large pieces of tomato skin as you come across them.

Let the soup simmer for about ten minutes then season to taste.  Chop up 2/3 of the bunch of basil and stir it through the soup until it softens.

This soup is fantastic with my garlic and basil bread.... just the thing for a cold winter’s day. Enjoy

                                                   

Basil and garlic bread

Ingredients:

4 slices of sour-dough

1 large clove of garlic

1/3 bunch of basil

Parmesan

Olive oil and salt

Method:

Drizzle the bread with olive oil.

Finely grate the garlic.

Chop up the basil.

Mix all the ingredients together with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil.

Divide the mixture over the four slices of sour dough and spread it out to cover each slice.

Grate parmesan over the top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for about 10 mins or until parmesan is golden.