My mother used to make an amazing tomato soup, I have fond memories of the smell coming from the kitchen of tomatoes roasting away. She never used fresh garlic or basil as I have here and chilli was very much not on the palate of Morecambe folk in the late 70's and 80's so feel free to omit if chilli heat is not your thing
Heat the oven to 180C/Fan 160c
Place the onion, tomatoes, garlic, chilli (if using) and thyme into a roasting tin and toss together with the oil and season .
Place in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, stir through the basil and place back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven, pick out the garlic and set aside, dispose of any woody thyme sprigs and pour everything else into a saucepan.
Squeeze out the garlic which should now be golden and roasted into the saucepan.
Add the passata and bring to a boil then turn the heat.
Blitz everything with a handheld blender, or indeed use a standalone blender or processer instead, add vegetable stock to bring it to your required consistency and thickness, I like to leave some texture and have a thick soup but feel free to blitz to a smoother thinner soup if you require.
Ladle into your serving bowls and drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil and top with shredded basil leaves also great with some pesto stirred through or grated parmesan.
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the oven to 180C/Fan 160c
Place the onion, tomatoes, garlic, chilli (if using) and thyme into a roasting tin and toss together with the oil and season .
Place in the oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, stir through the basil and place back in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Remove from the oven, pick out the garlic and set aside, dispose of any woody thyme sprigs and pour everything else into a saucepan.
Squeeze out the garlic which should now be golden and roasted into the saucepan.
Add the passata and bring to a boil then turn the heat.
Blitz everything with a handheld blender, or indeed use a standalone blender or processer instead, add vegetable stock to bring it to your required consistency and thickness, I like to leave some texture and have a thick soup but feel free to blitz to a smoother thinner soup if you require.
Ladle into your serving bowls and drizzle on some extra virgin olive oil and top with shredded basil leaves also great with some pesto stirred through or grated parmesan.