Soup is a wonderful meal to serve as a starter, a light or not-so-light lunch and for any supper. Tomatoes lend themselves to soup and are used as an ingredient in almost all soups to give colour, to add flavour and zest. Tomato soup was fashionable in the sixties and then it was canned  – literally – and nothing tastes worse than a can of tomato soup. Because it’s seen so seldom on menus these days, we selected three really different interpretations of the classic tomato soup – they are all simple, don’t take up too much time and are fun to make, so pick up a few tomatoes from your local green-grocer …..

CHILLED ROAST TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients

• 1kg ripe plum tomatoes, washed and halved
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp light brown sugar
• 150 ml fresh homemade vegetable stock (should you need it)
• few quartered tomatoes to roast for garnishing

Pesto:

• 1 generous handful  basil leaves
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 heaped tbsp pine nuts
• 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180 C
• Place the tomatoes cut side up in a baking tray, add the whole garlic cloves and season well, sprinkle with the sugar and drizzle over the olive oil.
• Roast for about 45 minutes, until the tomatoes are lightly browned and beginning to ooze juice and then remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
• Pick out the roasted garlic cloves and squeeze the soft flesh out of the husks onto a saucer.
• Place all the tomatoes and the squeezed out garlic pulp in a blender with all the juices from the roasting tray.
• Blend very well until the tomatoes are velvety smooth, add a little vegetable stock if the soup feels to thick and then check and correct the seasoning but remember the flavour will alter once it’s chilled so you’ll have to check again.
• Pour into a bowl and chill for about 5 hours, at least.
• Make the pesto in a pestle and mortar by combining the the basil, the garlic and the pine nuts, until you have a fine grained pulp and stir this into the olive oil – it has to be quite runny.
• Leave it to stand for a few hours will remove the sharpness of the garlic.
• Serve the soup with a quarter of lightly roasted tomato and some pesto drizzled over each serving.

BASIC BREAD AND TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients

• 2 x 400 g tinned tomatoes
• 12 plum tomatoes, quartered
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely diced
• 6 garlic gloves, peeled and diced
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Half a French loaf, cubed
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• few springs parsley
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
• 150ml water

Method

• Heat the olive oil in a pot and cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes  until they are just translucent, add the water and all of the tomatoes, cover with a lid, bring to the boil and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered  for about 10-15 minutes or until the soup has reduced by a third and it has thickened slightly.
• Stir in the bread cubes and sprinkle over the chopped basil leaves and sprig of parsely.
• Serve with olive oil drizzled over the top of each serving.

FRESH TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients

Tapenade:

• 100 g good quality black olives, pitted
• 4 anchovy fillets
• 40 g capers, drained and rinsed
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 85 ml oz olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Soup

• 900g vine-grown tomatoes with their stalks – obviously not the stems
• 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic, chopped very finely
• ½  tsp hot fresh chilli
• Sea salt to taste
• Basil, freshly shredded, to garnish

Method

• Make the tapenade first by putting the olives, the anchovies, the capers and the garlic cloves into a food processor and pulse 3 or 4 times.
• Turn the machine on slow and add the oil in a thin, steady stream through the hole in the lid and then add black pepper to taste.
• Now coarsely chop the tomatoes and, just to be different and for extra flavour, their little star-like stalks.
• Put the olive oil, the garlic and the chilli into a large pot over low heat for a few seconds until the garlic just begins to sizzle and then add the tomatoes immediately and flip over for a few  minutes until the juices from the tomatoes begin to run.
• Tip the whole mixture into a food processor and add 2 tbsp of the tapenade – then blitz until the soup is velvety smooth.
• Re-heat gently until warm but not hot because you’ll lose the fresh taste if you do, check and correct the seasoning and serve with some more shredded basil.