Recipe: Fresh As Tomato Soup

Tomato soup. Photo / Doug Sherring

Serves 4

12 cherry tomatoes
8 tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
3 spring onions
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Thyme leaves
Salt & pepper

1 Mix 12 cherry tomatoes, 2 crushed garlic cloves, some thyme leaves and 3 finely chopped spring onions in a bowl. Add a little salt and a good glug of olive oil. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.

2 Take 8 big ripe red tomatoes and cut in half lengthwise. Grate these into a bowl, working with the flesh side closest to the grater. Discard as much skin as you can.

3 Put this pulp in a blender with a tablespoon of red wine vinegar, rock salt and cracked pepper to taste and blend until smooth. If the tomatoes are particularly fleshy you may need to thin back the soup with water to get a "spoonable" texture.

4 Chill in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

To serve, mix some fresh rocket leaves with the marinated cherry tomatoes.

Ladle the cold tomato soup into bowls and garnish with the above.

Hint: I've recently discovered Summer Savoury, a herb that is not grown much. It is particularly good with tomatoes. Substitute the thyme with this if you have some.