Last year my parents garden was inundated with so many tomatoes that we didn’t know what to do with them.  After eating many a tomato salad, turning kilos of tomatoes into passata for use in pastas or on pizzas, I wondered how our tomatoes would taste in a soup. I was a little dubious at the outset as I have tried a number of tomato soup recipes in the past and not really enjoyed them, subsequently I used to resort to Heinz tomato soup as it was always dependable.

Anyway after roaming various sites looking for ideas I finally concluded that I would be better off just trying out an idea I had and seeing how it would work out…

So here it is –

Spicy Roast Tomato Soup Recipe:

Ingredients

• 8-9 Large Tomatoes
• 3tbsp Olive Oil
• Seasoning
• 2-3 Rosemary Sprigs
• 2 Onions (finely diced)
• 1 garlic clove (finely diced)
• 1tbsp brown sugar
• 1tsp paprika
• 1tsp cayenne pepper
• 1tsp thyme
• 1-2tsp ground black pepper (according to taste)
• 3tsp honey
• 150 ml chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• Few drops of hot pepper sauce

Serve with the following topping to cool the heat from the spices in the soup:

• 3tbsp crème fraiche
• 5-6 stalks fresh chives (chopped)
• Sprinkling of paprika

Steps:

1. Heat oven to 200C.
2. Put tomatoes in oven proof dish, drizzle over olive oil, season and add rosemary, cook for 25 minutes.
3. Remove from oven, allow to cool.
4. Once cool, remove rosemary, peel and remove the  core from tomatoes.
5. In a large sauce pan heat some olive oil, add brown sugar, onions and garlic and cook till soft.
6. Add the paprika, cayenne pepper, thyme and stir.
7. Tip in the tomatoes allow to heat for 5 minutes.
8. Stir in the honey, black pepper and stock and allow to simmer for 10/15 minutes.
9. Finally add the hot pepper sauce, allow to cool slightly before blending with a liquidiser.
10. Serve the soup warm accompanied with the crème fraiche topping which you mix together in a small pot before serving.

Note: I found that this soup froze very well, which means it is perfect to make up in big quantities so that it can be stored away for those chilly winter days.