Tuesday 14 August 2007

Tomato and Basil Soup

Tomato & Basil Soup
Today we were left with a surplus of tomatoes when my wife Diane bought two packets of tomatoes on a buy one get one free offer, without checking how many we currently have in the fridge. The thing is that the tomatoes we had currently in the fridge were little past their sell by date and could do with eating as soon as possible. Diane said to me “why don't you make tomato and basil soup?”
“Great idea” I replied, “except I've no idea how to make it!” As soon as said it I knew I wasn't telling the truth, it's tomato and basil soup for gods sake, the clue is in the title. So here is my attempt at making tomato and basil soup - feel free to pick me up on any mistakes, but I found it to be delicious.

By the way I'm a big fan of honest food; I like to see what I'm eating. To that end I tend not to stick my soup in a food processor to blend it into puréed liquid. So in this soup you can find bits of tomato skin small bits of onion, if you're not a fan of this just stick it in a blender after you finished cooking it.

Ingredients
  • 14 overripe tomatoes
  • One pint of chicken stock
  • Two thirds of a red onion
  • Two cloves of garlic finely sliced
  • A bunch of fresh basil leaves picked and torn, storks chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • Half a teaspoon of dried chillies

Method

Put a little olive oil in a saucepan and fry off the garlic on a medium heat until it is lightly browned. Meanwhile thinly slice your onion and chop your tomatoes into quarters. Turn up the heat and add your onion, basil stalks, tomato, a pinch of salt-and-pepper and your dried chillies. bring to the boil then simmer until the onion is soft and the skins have come away from the tomato. add your chicken stock and bring to the boil once more. Add the loosely torn basil leaves, check and correct seasoning if necessary. Simmer for a further 10 minutes and serve.