Roast Tomato & Basil Soup
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Everywhere I look lately I see tomato soup recipes and photo’s. This might be the reason why I was so amped to make it last week, and why my husband was so surprised to find out that I’d never made or eaten tomato soup before. I think it’s the fact that in our high school Home Economics class, the teacher always said you can’t make tomato soup in certain pots, I think it was Aluminium, because the acid in the tomatoes react with the Aluminium and this gives the soup a metallic taste. The thought of that petrified me and I was always too scared to make it. Meanwhile, we only had cast-iron and stainless steel pots and pans at home so I had no reason to really be scared of attempting this soup.
I was also nervous that my soup would taste like Marinara sauce or ketchup…I mean I love both, but I don’t want to dig into a whole bowl of it. So it took a lot of careful seasoning and tweaking to get the flavours to just where I want it. I think using Balsamic Vinegar to roast the tomatoes in made a big difference and gave the soup a lovely rich quality. Also, I used a bit of soy sauce to add body and depth to the soup. There is just nothing like soy sauce when you want richness to something. I didn’t add enough for you to really taste there was soy sauce in the soup, just enough to add the lovely savoriness I wanted from it.
The end result was a soup with a bit of sweetness, saltiness and just the right amount of acidity. It was delicious with the rustic green olive bread I served it with and please excuse the excessive use of cream and balsamic vinegar on top of the soup. I am obsessed with drizzles and swirls, but I am trying to work on this problem, I promise!
Serves 6-8
4 tins (400g each) whole, peeled tomatoes
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp tomato paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1.5l vegetable / chicken stock
100ml cream
salt & pepper to taste
fresh basil leaves, to serve
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°c.
- Place the tinned tomatoes and all their juices in a roasting tray and add the Balsamic, olive oil, sugar and salt. Stir to combine and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the tomatoes are broken down and have started caramelising slightly.
- In a large pot, sauté the onions in some olive oil until they are translucent and fragrant. Add the garlic and fry for another minute.
- Add the roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, soy sauce and sugar. Stir to combine all the ingredients and pour in the stock.
- Lower the heat and cover the pot. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
- Remove the pot from the heat and blend the soup.
- Add the cream and season to taste.
- Serve with fresh basil leaves and crusty bread.
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We looooved this soup! Made a huge batch to freeze using Better than Boullion instead of stock. We intended to add the necessary water later but loved the taste so much without all of the extra liquid that we skipped it. Now, I just thaw out a bag of it and stir the cream into the reheated soup! perfection! thank you so much!!!
Such a great idea! And so glad you loved the soup.
This looks fantastic! I have a fresh basil plant and am wild about tomatoes! I’m all over this!
-r
Ok so I made this the other night and it is just oh so good! I just had a couple questions. Do you use the fresh basil only as a garnish or do you add it in somewhere during the cooking process? Also, I hated not using the sauce from the roasting. Do you ever hold back some of the broth and use this instead? Or do you use it in another dish possibly? I still have some left over from last time. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! Love it!
Hollie, I use the basil fresh as I prefer this but you could add a handful of leaves before blending the soup. As for the liquid, I always add it to the soup as this adds incredible depth and flavour to the soup. So glad you liked it!
How could you do this w/ fresh tomatoes? I have a garden full now & love tomato basil soup.
Sami, I would suggest you follow the recipe exactly as is and just replace the canned tomatoes. Roast the fresh tomatoes just the same as you would the canned ones. Let me know how it turns out!
Would that be 32ozs of chicken stock? Gonna try this this week!
Chelle, I think that’s correct.
I just finished making this recipe and it tastes delicious…but it is definitely does not look like your pictures! It is way more watery than your pictures show and a bit chunkier. Do you remove the tomatoes after you let them simmer with the rest of the soup? I didn’t remove mine but I did try using a mixer to blend them in better after it simmered for 10 minutes. It still tastes great but think I will try to figure out why it’s so thin yet chunky for next time!
Hi Jill. The chunkiness can only be because it was not blended enough. If you would like to get it even smoother, you can always pass it through a sieve. As for the wateryness, perhaps allow it to simmer uncovered until it has reduced to your preference. I hope this helps. 🙂
Thanks for this recipe! It turned out great! I tweaked it a little…One, I did not have tomato paste. Two, I added the tomatoes after baking to the onions and garlic and kept the juice back. Which I then added 3 T. of flour to thicken it up before adding to the stock. After emulsifying, I proceeded to have 3 bowls of it. My 4 yo even liked it. Thanks for posting to Pinterest!!
What a yummy roast tomato soup!!! Loved your blog. Do you have a FB page? Please feel free to follow back if you like: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cosmopolitan-Currymania/213631198670124
Great recipes and blog…I have posted it on my foodie community blog. Hopefully you’ll come check it out http://www.facebook.com/thefrenchiefoodie
C
Hi Ally
Sound fab….but I was surprised at the choice of tinned tomatoes here. Do they roast as well as regular tomatoes? What would this be like with roasted cherry or regular tomatoes and perhaps a handful of sun-dried tomatoes thrown in too? I no longer live in SA and I am pretty sure we don’t get whole tinned tomatoes here….they are all chopped. Thanks!
Lisa : I really love using tinned tomatoes. I feel like it’s a consistent way of getting juicy, ripe red tomatoes. If you have really red and ripe tomatoes, then I would suggest you blanch the tomatoes first, remove the skins and then roast them. Cherry tomatoes wouldn’t work as you would need to peel them and that would be quite a mission.
So i made this the other day for the non-book Book Club ladies… It was so delicious!! Not a drop left of it! Felt so proud of myself 🙂
Mine turned out a bit running, so had to add a bit of Maizena, is this normal, or did i go wrong somewhere?
Going home to make another batch of it tonight, i cannot have enough of it!!
Monica, so glad you liked it. Next time, add less chicken stock, then it won’t be so runny. I remove the tomatoes almost entirely from the cooking liquid, blitz it and then see the consistency. You can always thin it out later.
Wooooow! Thanks for sharing this recipe. Your pictures are beautiful and tempting. So, I had to make this for lunch today. DELICIOUS!! The addition of the balsamic vinigar adds great flavor contrast! Absolutly loved this!!
Cate
I love this!
Tomato soup seems to be in the air right now! made a roast tomato and barley soup a couple of weeks ago, that was just divine! This looks like a lovely variation, that I’ll need to try… and soon!
Oh Yipee !! This winter i have been on the hunt for the perfect tomato soup. I’ve tried out 3 different recipes so far, and have to agree with you that i felt like i just needed to add spaghetti to my “marinara sauce”…
Can’t wait to try this out, Balsamic vinegar and soy sauce! Genius!!
Thanks!
Mon
Monica, let me know what you think. I hope this is the things you’ve been waiting for! 🙂
OH MY GLORY!!!
Not only is the thought of soup devine, but then you TEASE us with such BEAUTIFUL photos of rich red flavourful tomatoes, bright green yummy basil and fresh crusty french looking bread… What a taste tensation, my mouth is watering!
Gonna have to attempt this one on the week end! Cant believe i have to wait that long!! will have to settle for woolies packet soup!
Thanx Mands! 😉 Why don’t you roast the tomatoes tonight and make the soup tomorrow night? Only takes 10 minutes once the tomatoes are roasted! 😉
Looks yummy! As soon as we get some cold weather in Durbs will try it:)