The Chef's Recipe
Recipe by Adam Foley, Executive Chef, Osgoode Hall
Homemade tomato soup is a classic. You can also use this as a sauce for pasta dishes like lasagna, cannelloni or just toss with noodles. The secret is first to roast the tomatoes, together with onions and herbs. Ripe tomatoes are essential. To enhance the flavor I add smoked sun-dried cherry tomatoes with a hickory flavor.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1kg plum tomatoes, halved
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 fat garlic cloves, halved
- Small handful of thyme sprigs
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- Small handful of basil sprigs
- 1 litre chicken stock or vegetable stock
- 3 smoked sun-dried cherry tomatoes in oil
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve: 2 tbsp olive oil, 200-300g baby cherry tomatoes on the vine, small basil leaves.
Create
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pour the olive oil into a roasting tin and heat in the oven until almost smoking. Carefully tip in the tomatoes, onion rings and garlic, then toss to coat in the oil. Scatter over the thyme sprigs, sprinkle with sugar and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until nicely caramelized, stirring once or twice and adding the basil towards the end of cooking.
Tip the roasted tomatoes and flavorings into a saucepan, discarding any woody thyme stalks. Bring the stock to the boil in another pan, then pour over the tomatoes. Bring to the boil, add the smoked tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes.
Strain the stock, reserving the tomato mixture. Tip the tomatoes into a blender or food processor and whiz, gradually adding the stock back in until smooth and creamy. Pass the soup through a sieve into a clean pan or bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
For the garnish, heat the olive oil in a frying pan. Snip the vine tomatoes into four clusters and fry them on the vine for about a minute.
Reheat the soup if necessary, but it's best served warm rather than piping hot. Pour into warmed bowls and top with the pan-roasted vine tomatoes (or homemade croutons). Drizzle the pan juices around the tomatoes and scatter with basil leaves.
