Roasted organic tomato soup, straight from the farm.

Nothing beats fresh organic ingredients, straight from the farm, still warm from the sun. My friend John House recently surprised us all by buying a neat piece of land outside Stellenbosch, and starting his own organic vegetable farm. It’s been a year since John started to work the soil at Genesis Farm, and now his crops are standing tall with huge basil plants, different kinds of tomatoes, beautiful peppers and chilli’s, and all kinds of other organic produce.

You can immediately taste the difference in a freshly picked organic tomato, straight from the vine: it still tastes of the sun and the earth – sweet, intense tomato flavours unlike any store-bought fruit. So, with my basket filled to the brim with the reddest plump tomatoes, I knew I had to make a proper, chunky roasted tomato soup. I had eaten some really tasty tomato soup at Nook Eatery a few times, and knew they had the recipe posted on their blog. I took a few notes and adapted the recipe for what I had on hand. The soup is intense with real beefy tomato flavours, packed with umami. I used the tomatoes whole – no skins or seeds were discarded (but if you are a picky eater, feel free to push the cooked soup through a sieve).

Ingredients:

  • 3 T (45 ml) olive oil
  • 200 g leeks, finely chopped
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large carrot, finely chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced/crushed
  • 4 sprigs thyme
  • about 16 ripe organic tomatoes (medium to large), chopped into chunks
  • 2 cans of whole Italian tomatoes, chopped into chunks
  • 2 T (30 ml) sugar
  • 1 T (15 ml) salt
  • 2 t (10 ml) freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 T (45 ml) red wine vinegar
  • 2 T (30 ml) tomato paste
  • to serve: handful of fresh basil leaves, more olive oil and fresh cream

Method:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
  2. In a large heavy based pot on the stove top, heat olive oil, then fry chopped leeks, onion, carrot, garlic and thyme until soft and slightly brown (I didn’t chop it by hand, but used a food processor – saved a lot of time).
  3. Add the tomatoes (fresh and canned), as well as the sugar, salt, pepper, vinegar and tomato paste. Stir to mix thoroughly. Transfer to a large deep roasting tray, then put in the oven to roast for 1 hour (stir after 30 minutes).
  4. Remove from oven, discard thyme sprigs, then process untill the right texture is achieved (I found that it stays quite chunky after processing, which is perfect).
  5. Serve with cream (I love lots of cream in my soup) and a dollop of basil paste.

How to make basil paste:

In a large pot, bring some water to a simmer. Have a large bowl filled with iced water ready next to it. Blanche the basil leaves for 3 seconds (not more, not less) in the boiling water, then remove at once with a slotted spoon and immerse immediately in iced water. Remove from iced water, lightly squeeze out excess water, then pat dry with a tea towel. Transfer to a food processor or pestle & mortar, along with enough olive oil to form a paste and a pinch of course salt flakes. Process/pound to a paste. Store in an air tight container in the fridge and use within 3 days.

(Contact John House from Genesis Farm on 082-215 6968. Their website will be live by next week.)

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16 Comments

  1. […] simply can’t wait to try this delicious recipe courtesy of The Food […]

  2. Looks so delicious. I made a beautiful potful of roasted tomato soup last week and now am feeling like some more after reading your post. Where can one buy John House tomatoes?

    1. Hi Colleen! I’m not sure who their stockists are, but you can contact John on his cell to find out! The number is at the bottom of the post: 082-2156968. You can also buy directly from him. Those tomatoes are superb! Have a great weekend.

      1. Thanks so much Ilse, You have a great weekend too xx

  3. Looks stunning! Love the double cooking method…

    1. The “double cooking” makes all the difference! 🙂

  4. I found this post though Pinterest. The photo was so beautiful that I just had to come here to read the recipe! Love it! And love your site :-).

    I would like to invite you to share this post (and your other posts 🙂 ) on a new photo based recipe sharing site that launched in May. The idea is simple: all recipe photographs are published within minutes of submission. And, of course, the images link back to the author’s site.

    It’s called RecipeNewZ (with Z) – http://recipenewz.com

    I hope you get a chance to visit and to share some of your delicious posts with our viewers. It would be a pleasure to have you on board 🙂

    1. Thanks so much, will check out your site!

    1. I would say 4 for a main meal, or 6 for a starter. All depending on the size of your soup bowls! 🙂

  5. […] Third Course: Slow roasted organic tomato soup […]

  6. Looks fantastic! Can’t wait to make up a batch!

    1. Thanks Kimberly, this is truly one of my favourites for Winter time!

  7. Tomato soup is the best! I’ve never made it myself, but I love it homemade at restaurants. I will be giving this a try, definitely a comfort food!

    Emily

  8. Oh these look like I want a bowlful on a cold cold winter night. I loved the clicks. Love the light on the soup! Loved the colours! Looks so hearty and comforting, and only soup can do that to you!

    Shobha

    1. Thanks so much Shoba! One of my all-time favourites for winter.

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