When was the last time you had a bowl of tomato soup? My last memory of tomato soup was out of a Campbells can when I was a wee child. With all the fancy soups that are on offer these days, you do forget that the simple tastes in life are often the very best.
This came about because we got hooked on the Spanish tapas tomato bread. So like I do when I get hooked on something, I make it till I cannot stand the thought of it. In the process of making tomato bread, when squeezing the juice from the pulp to spread on the bread you are left with the glorious juice of the tomato which I usually use to make sugo or pasta sauce. This time, I did not want to make pasta sauce so I thought, since the weather has taken a turn to “cold”, I would make soup instead.
And since we never get to finish the whole loaf of bread, I thought I would make croutons to go with the soup, as well as use some of it for a thickening agent for the soup.
And since I had made confit garlic previously with the whole bag of garlic I’d bought recently because they looked oh so inviting, I thought I would use the garlic oil to flavour the croutons to give it some kick in flavour.
I discovered that making confit garlic is the best way to preserve all the garlic when you have an abundance as you know they will rot if you don’t use it, especially if you have purchased fresh local garlic. Confit garlic is very easy to make and it is so handy to add to dressings, toast, bruschetta and dips without it being too strong.
To confit garlic, skin the garlic and leave whole. Gently heat enough olive oil to cover the amount of cloves you are using and leave the garlic in the heated oil for as long as it turns colour. Leave to cool then store in a glass jar, in the fridge until you need to use. I will often use the oil to flavour dressings or mince a clove into tomatoes and basil when making bruschetta.
This recipe is based on about 2 litres of tomato juice I had to use. If you Google other tomato soup recipes, there are plenty of variations that use fresh and canned tomatoes too.
Ingredients for tomato soup:
About 2 litres of juice from tomatoes
250 to 300mls chicken stock
½ red onion chopped finely
1 carrot chopped finely (I did not peel the carrot)
Optional: a few sprigs of chives chopped finely (I only used this because it was in my fridge and needed using)
1 clove of confit or raw garlic
A couple of teaspoons of garlic oil or plain olive oil
Sprinkle of salt
Sprinkle of cracked black pepper (I like a generous amount)
Optional: sprinkle of cinnamon (I just love the sweetness cinnamon brings to a dish)
Sprinkle of onion powder
Sprinkle of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
Ingredients for croutons:
I used 1/3 loaf of ciabatta cut into small pieces (I’m sure you can use any bread that’s a few days old)
Garlic infused oil or plain olive oil
1 clove of confit garlic
Sprinkle of salt
Sprinkle of semi dried basil
A few splashes of chicken stock (my bread was rock hard so I needed a bit of oil and stock to soften the bread)
Sprinkle of brown sugar
Sauté on medium to low heat the onions, carrots, chives, with all the seasonings in the oil to gently sweat the vegetables. You don’t want to fry them too much but just sautéing until they are soft.
Whilst the onions and carrots are sweating, prepare the bread for croutons. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. I’ve thrown all the crumbs from cutting the bread into the tray too as I will scrape them up to add to the soup when they are done to thicken the soup some more plus this also adds even more flavour to the soup. Sprinkle oil all over the bread and mix well. Add a generous splash of chicken stock to soften the bread, mix well and let it sit for a 5 or so minutes to soak into the bread. Sprinkle a bit of salt and basil all over the bread and mix well again. Squish the clove of garlic into the bread. Then place in the oven to roast/crisp.
Once the onions and carrots are soft, add chicken stock. Let the stock evaporate a bit before adding the juice of tomatoes. Leave the heat to medium low so it gently cooks, stirring every now and then to reduce the liquid a bit to thicken and intensify in flavour. The idea is to evaporate the stock and tomato juice so the flavour of both intensifies as it gently simmers away.
Check and toss the croutons every few minutes so the croutons crisp evenly. Be sure scrape the bottom of the tray too when tossing. Depending on how fast the croutons crisp, you may want to turn the oven down slightly. When they are ready, take them out of the oven to cool and put into an airtight container until you are ready to use them. I saved about two spoonfuls, especially the delicious crumbs on the bottom of the pan and add them to the soup.
When the soup is at the flavour you like, turn off the heat and blitz with hand blender or puree in the blender. It is an amazing how this soup turns lighter in colour when blended, like you have added cream to it. So when you blend this soup, it becomes nice and creamy without adding any cream.
When serving, add croutons, even a sprinkle of chopped chives and chopped basil. This soup is delicious and heartwarming. Not quite the same as the memory I had when I enjoyed tomato soup from the Campbells tin but I guess this would be classified as the grown up version of a warm hug in a bowl. There’s something to be said when you have made something from scratch and from ingredients you have put all your efforts in. Hope you will feel the same.
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