Summer recipe: spicy tomato soup [*vegan]

This spicy tomato soup is perfect for a summer lunch. Serve it either hot or cold, accompanied with a thin slice of grilled sourdough and some lime zest.

Tomatoes are in full season in the summer time, and I can’t be happier! Usually I try as much as I can to avoid buying tomatoes from supermarkets when they are not in season, as they have no flavour at all, and I do suffer a bit, as I really love a good tomato and lately I am a big fan of spicy tomato soup. However, in summer time, things are getting better and one can find good quality tomatoes at the local farmers markets. As a big tomato fan, I eat them in various ways, but what I love most is experimenting, and trying to get out of the classic tomato and basil combination. Now don’t get me wrong: I could eat tomato and basil bruschetta every single day. But if we are talking about soups and other dishes, everything changes: I adore playing with spices, herbs and flavours. Last year I made this slightly different version of gazpacho, by adding fresh tarragon to it, and it was fabulous! For this year I thought at thyme – another big favourite of mine, but I also wanted a soup that could be served hot as well as cold, so I came out with this recipe.

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Spicy tomato soup

Ingredients

for the soup:

• 3 big ripe tomatoes
• 1 medium-sized red onion
• 1 red chili
• 3 springs of fresh thyme
• 15 ml olive oil
• Maldon salt
• freshly cracked black pepper
• juice of half lemon

for serving:

• 4 thin slices of sourdough
• 2 cherry tomatoes
• some fresh lime zest
• freshly cracked black pepper
• fresh thyme

Instructions

• Preheat the oven at 150 C
• Roughly chop the tomatoes and the onion, then cut the red chilli in half and remove the seeds. Put them all in a roasting pan, add the thyme springs, sprinkle with salt and pepper then drizzle the olive oil on top.
• Cover the pan with foil an place it in the oven for 45 minutes, until the tomatoes and the onion become soft.
• After 45 minutes, take the pan out of the oven, remove the foil and leave it to cool for a few minutes.
• Transfer everything, including all the juices from the pan (remove the thyme springs) into a food processor and whizz it until it becomes creamy.
• At the end, add the lemon juice.
• To serve, pour the soup into two bowls, add the cubed cherry tomatoes, the sourdough, sprinkle some lime zest, freshly cracked black pepper and some fresh thyme.

Enjoy!

Andra Constantinescu

I am a classically trained chef, with a BSc in Culinary Arts and a Masters Degree in Food Business Management.

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