Ripe tomatoes are so easy to be made into simple yet delicious soup. I followed the recipe in my cookbook of Party Food and Appertizers. In fact the recipe calls for sun-dried tomato paste so that the soup has intense flavor. However, I didn’t have that kind of tomato paste so I went ahead using normal tomato paste. The soup was still tasty though I wondered how the authentic taste would be like.
We can choose to cook with either chicken stock or vegetable stock, and I picked vegetable stock to get a real fresh and vegetarian soup. I made the toasted cheese croûte with baguette slices and grated Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients (serves 6)
- 1.3-1.6kg ripe tomatoes
- 400ml (1 2/3 cups) chicken or vegetable stock
- 3tbs (45ml) tomato paste (use sun-dried tomato paste for more authentic taste)
- 2-3 tbs balsamic vinegar
- 2-3 tsp caster sugar
- small handful of basil leaves
- salt and ground black pepper
- toasted cheese
croûtes
, to serve
Method:
- Peel off the skins and quarter the tomatoes. Put them in a large, heavy pan and pour over the chicken or vegetable stock. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the tomatoes are thickened.
- Stir in the tomato paste, vinegar, sugar and basil. Season with salt and pepper, then cook gently, stirring for 2 minutes. Process the soup in a blender or food processor, then return the soup to the pan to reheat slightly.
- Serve the soup hot with toasted cheese croûtes.
Simone (junglefrog) on Wed, 9th Dec 2009 1:17 am
It looks absolutely gorgeous so I am sure the taste must have been good too. Love the croutons on top!