Happy New Year everyone!
It's been a busy time for us over the last month, not just cooking, but looking after the elderly. This is one of the soups we serve up in December & January. Although it's really a summer soup, tomatoes are always available in the supermarkets. It's cheap & easy to make, & great for using up any stale bread. I first had this soup in Tuscany & thought it looked like a bowl of stodge! But it's tastes delicious & goes down very well, especially for people living on their own, as it reheats perfectly the next day or you can freeze.
Serves 4
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cooking Time 55 minutes
Ingredients
500g Ripe plum tomatoes(cut in half length ways)
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
20 Basil leaves (roughly chopped)
2 Cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
250g stale bread (I used Ciabatta)
400ml water
Method
Put 2 tbsp of Extra virgin olive oil into a roasting dish, stir in half the basil and all the garlic
Lay the cut tomatoes in the roasting dish, skin side up and brush the skins with the extra virgin olive oil mixture
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Place on the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven 200deg;C/400deg;F gas mark 6 for 30 minutes
Transfer the tomatoes to a large heavy saucepan, add the tin of tomatoes and water
Use a fork to break up the tomatoes
Bring to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes
Break the bread up into roughly 1"/25mm squares and add to the saucepan
Gently stir in the remaining basil
Simmer for a further 10 minutes
Serve
Equipment
Roasting dish
Large heavy saucepan
Shopping List
500g Ripe plum tomatoes
1 x 400g tin tomatoes
20 Basil leaves
2 Cloves garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
250g stale bread