Tomato Soup

I'm having mixed reviews with my tomato plants this year, but I have to confess they are planted at the side of the house and I'm not giving them the due care and attention that they possibly need.
We've been able to pick enough to keep us supplied in our needs and this was this mornings pickings alone....

But here's some I picked earlier as they say....

Guess where these were grown....? Answers on a postcard...oh well maybe not...
Actually they were grown in the desert. In Qatar to be precise! Not bad for the desert eh?
Although these tomatoes also were planted at the side of the house attached to the large concrete boundary wall, I'd have to walk past them regularly so I was very attentive....and I received my reward. Kilo after kilo...

I'm hearing from reading blogs and comments that the inevitable is happening in certain parts of the world. People are suffering in the colder weather and have the usual winter ailments, so with that in mind I thought I'd post my son's favourite soup. I just hope he doesn't see this as it will remind him about it and its 34 degrees celcius here today. Not exactly soup weather... I've also heard that Perth has 41+ (yuk!)
I'm wondering if this soup might actually be good served cold...I'll not try it though as I'm funny like that, I like my soup to be hot! No matter what the temperature is. 

Tomato Soup Recipe:-

Pick fresh tomatoes and slice in half.

Place tomatoes in an oven tray with crush garlic sprinkled over the tops.

Add fresh Basil leaves and cracked black pepper and a little sea salt. Be careful not to over season at this point because seasoning can be added later.

Drizzle with a good virgin olive oil.

Place tray in a warm oven and gently roast the tomoatoes.

Once the tomatoes smell wonderful and have softened sufficiently place them into a sieve and crush the pulp through the sieve leaving the skins and seeds etc behind. Make sure that you take the excess of pulp from the outside of the sieve.

Place to one side.

Ingredients...

1 onion, peeled and fineley chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and coarsely grated or blitzed

a handful of fresh basil, roughly torn

a little olive oil

1.1 litres / 2 pints of chicken or vegetable stock

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method...

Put the onion, garlic, carrot and basil into a large pot with a couple of glugs of olive oil. Gently saute until soft.

Add stock and roasted tomatoes to pan. Gently simmer for about 20 minutes.

Puree the soup using either a food processor, a liquidizer or a hand-held blender, but be careful as it will still be hot. Once you've pureed the soup, put it back into the pan, bring back to a simmer. Season carefully with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Just before serving add a knob of butter or whisk in a little cream to give a silky texture.

Serve straight away sprinkling a few torn-up basil leaves, croutons or a swirl of cream if desired.

Enjoy : D

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p.s. notice I didn't mention the Tennis today...aww well....maybe next time? ; )