Roasted Tomato Soup

Remember I thought I would be making Green Tomato Chutney this year, as I didn’t think our tomatoes would ripen.. Wrong, they have ripened  and all at once.

So I have been making a delicious very easy to make  Roasted Tomato Soup.. You just slice your tomatoes into quarters and put in the oven, and to save of energy they can easily be cooked when you are baking something else. And if you are short on time like I was one day, you can leave them to go cold and blend the next day.. I also like to add some sweet red peppers and cut into quarters and roast with the tomatoes.. Or sweet potato is also good this helps thicken the soup… So experiment and try different things   Tts so so easy,  why not give it a try and think of all the goodness in Fresh tomato soup  

1, Kg of Tomatoes,

4 garlic cloves whole in skins  ( This is optional but we like garlic )

3 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 Litre of Veggie Stock ( or if you prefer Chicken Stock ) I used a little less stock than this I used around 250 ml, which gives a thicker soup.

 A half of a tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar_ again to taste… 

Handful of fresh basil leaves.

Seasoning to taste- Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Method:

Prep:15min  ~  Cook:1hr  ~  Ready in:1hr15min

1) Preheat oven to 190 C / Gas mark 5. Place the unpeeled garlic and tomato quarters cut side up on a baking tray. Drizzle with oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast 1 hour in preheated oven. You can also add a small sweet potato roasted, you can bake on the same tray, Scoop out the flesh to thicken the soup, or also add sweet red peppers and roast with tomatoes and then blend all together the choices are yours to experiment as you please..  If you are not a fan of Garlic or the vinegar. Both can be omitted. 

2) Snip the ends off the garlic cloves,( a tip, snip the root end off the garlic  before roasting and it squeezes out easier ) and squeeze the insides into the bowl of a food processor or blender along with the roasted tomatoes and juice from the baking tray. If you have a hand held soup blender this is also good.. But please be careful of hot splashing liquid..  Add stock, basil and vinegar; blend until smooth. Season to taste.  Simple! Sieve to remove the seeds( I didn’t add the Basil until the end when I heated the soup ready to eat..) 

The day before I had made some  Onion Focaccia Bread, which half was left over.This went very well with the hot soup. I hope you will give this a try as you find ways to use up those Greenhouse Tomatoes..  I made several batches and have frozen some. Just cool and when cold put in sealed containers date and freeze..

Enjoy!