Smoky Tomato Soup

Things don’t feel especially Christmassy around here, I’m not cooking a feast this year and I won’t even be buying any presents. So I don’t have a gift guide, cookie or ham recipe for you. What I do have is some awesome tomato soup. Unlike a lot of tomato soups I’ve tried, this doesn’t taste like thinned out pasta sauce. With smokiness from the cumin and grilled tomatoes it’s got definite soup qualities. It’s a fusion of three recipes; Nigel Slater’s smoky tomato suace, Melissa Clark’s spiced tomato soup and Yotam Ottolenghi’s tomato and sourdough soup. I grilled the tomatoes like Nigel, added a bunch of spices like Melissa and then used a mix of fresh and canned tomatoes like Yotam. In the end, it’s a little bit spicy, chunky(but only if you want it to be) and delightful.

A few things to note, it’s totally worth the extra tomato grilling step because it’s gives rad flavour and also makes the soup cook really quickly. In fact, don’t simmer this any longer than 20 minutes otherwise it will loose it’s smoky magnificence and that would be a terrible shame! Lastly, I hear it’s hot in Australia. If you’re melting, I bet a chilled version of this would be good too. You could make a smoky gazpacho by blitzing the onion, garlic and spices in a food processor, then add the grilled and canned tomatoes and a few ice blocks.

Smoky tomato soup
 
Inspired by Nigel Slater, Yotam Ottolenghi and Melissa Clark(via 101 Cookbooks)! I served this as a starter a few nights ago before some lamb but with rice or bread and salad, it would be a good meal on it’s own. I like this with bit of lemon, yoghurt and herbs. Makes four big serves.

1 kg really good, ripe tomatoes, halved
Salt and pepper
3 tbs olive oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped with salt
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp chilli flakes
1 400g can of tomatoes
1 litre of stock, vegetable or chicken

1. Start by grilling the tomatoes. Heat the grill up to high and lay all the tomatoes out on a tray. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill for 5-7 minutes or until the skins are blackened and shriveled and the tomatoes are letting their juices out. Set aside.
2. Heat the rest of the olive oil in a soup pot and add the onion. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the garlic, stir as it cooks. When you can smell it, add the spices. Cook while stirring for around 2 minutes.
3. Add the canned and grilled tomatoes, stock and season. Bring to the boil and then turn down to simmer. Cook for 10-15 minutes. Long enough for the tomatoes to start breaking down but not long enough for it to lose it’s smoky flavour. Check the seasoning. I like this chunky but you could blitz half or all of it for a smooth soup. Enjoy!