Roasted Tomato, Basil and Goats Cheese Soup

This seems like the perfect recipe for a day like today… It’s cold, miserable and I have a terrible sore through that makes Darth Vader sound like Morgan Freeman! When people say, ‘chicken soup for the soul’, I argue it should actually be ‘tomato soup for the soul’, especially tomato soup that is rich and full of cheesy goodness. This isn’t my first tomato soup recipe… in fact if you type ‘soup’ into the recipe search bar you will find a total of 8 tomato-based soup recipes, all of which are guaranteed to warm the depth of your soul and make your bellies happy…

• Cream of Tomato Soup (that could rival Heinz!)
• Chunky Bacon Minestrone Soup
• Mediterranean Vegetable and Cannellini Bean Soup
• Chilli Con Carne Soup
• Mediterranean Vegetable and Red Pesto Minestrone Soup
• Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
• Spicy Chorizo, Sweet Potato and Mixed Bean Soup
• Tomato, Basil and Spaghetti Soup

If you too have a slightly obsessive and weird addiction to tomato soups then you must try all of these recipes every day for the rest of your life! If not, then just give this latest batch a try and bookmark the others for the next rainy day; which in fairness will probably be tomorrow and then the next day, and then the next day… until July! Enjoy!

Serves 3-4

• 1 red onion – quartered
• 1 red pepper – deseeded and roughly chopped
• 4 cloves garlic – left whole
• 1 splash olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1 400g tin good quality chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 pint vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper
• 1 large handful fresh basil
• 50g soft goats cheese

Pre-heat the oven 180’C

Toss the onion, pepper and garlic in the oil in a roasting dish and roast for 15 minutes.

At this stage remove the garlic from the pan, give the pan a stir and return the pepper and onion for another 10 minutes.

After this, squeeze the garlic out of its skins and add the tomatoes, balsamic, sugar and puree and return to the oven for 20 minutes, after giving the pot a good stir.

Once the mixture is lovely and thick, blend it together with the stock and basil until smooth. Return the mixture to a pan over a low heat and stir in the goat’s cheese until this has all melted into the soup.

Season to taste and dish up with some warm buttered bread.