Roasted cream of tomato soup
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 1 to 2 hours
- Serve
- Serves 4–6
The ultimate comfort food – sweet tomatoes are blended with onion, garlic, basil and cream for a nostalgic bowl of soup. Best served with toasted farmhouse bread and copious amounts of butter.
Ingredients
- 1kg/2lb 4oz ripe vine tomatoes, halved
- 2 onions, cut into wedges
- 1 whole garlic bulb, halved horizontally
- olive oil
- ½ tsp sweet smoked paprika
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 300g/10½oz floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper, peeled and cut into small even-sized pieces
- 1 litre/1¾oz pint vegetable stock
- 15g/½oz fresh basil
- 150ml/¼ pint single cream, plus extra for serving
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
- buttered toast (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
Place the tomatoes in a large roasting tray, cut side up. Nestle the onions between the tomatoes and add the garlic. Drizzle everything with olive oil and season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast for 45 minutes.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle over the sweet smoked paprika and caster sugar. Return the tray to the oven for a further 30 minutes.
Place the potato pieces in a large saucepan with the vegetable stock and basil and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10–15 minutes until the potato is tender.
Remove the tray from the oven and carefully remove the halved garlic bulb. Scrape the rest of the veg into a large saucepan and squeeze the garlic out of its skin and into the pan.
Pour the single cream into the pan then purée with a hand-held stick blender until silky smooth (you can do this in a free-standing blender but be careful of blending when the mixture is still hot). Taste and adjust the seasoning, then serve with a little more single cream drizzled on top and some buttered toast, if you like.
