Easy Roasted Tomato Soup with Cheese Toasties
This roasted tomato soup is made with fresh tomatoes, red pepper, red chillies, onion and garlic, all roasted in the oven until soft and caramelised. The roasted vegetables are blended with chicken stock to make a smooth, rich tomato soup with a little warmth from the chillies.
Ingredients
For the roasted tomato soup
- 6 large tomatoes halved
- 1 punnet of plum tomatoes
- 1 red pepper roughly chopped
- 1 carrot
- 2 red chillies
- 1 large red onion cut into large pieces
- 1 whole head of garlic top sliced off
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Herby sea salt to taste
- 25 g butter
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 500 ml chicken stock
- fresh basil handful
- Black pepper to taste, optional
For the cheese toasties
- 4 slices of a sourdough bloomer
- 50 g cheddar cheese grated
- 50 g mozzarella grated
- 20 g Parmesan finely grated
- Butter for spreading
Instructions
Roast the vegetables
- Preheat the oven to 200°C fan / 220°C conventional / 425°F.
- Chop the 6 large tomatoes in half and cut the red onion, red pepper and carrot into large pieces.
- Add the large tomatoes, plum tomatoes, red pepper, red chillies and red onion to a large baking dish.
- Slice the top off the head of garlic to expose the cloves and place it in the dish.
- Drizzle everything generously with extra virgin olive oil and season with herby sea salt.
- Roast for 45–50 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft, the tomatoes have released their juices and the edges are beginning to caramelise. Check towards the end, as cooking times can vary depending on the size and ripeness of the tomatoes.
Fry the tomato purée
- Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the tomato purée and cook for 1–2 minutes, stirring continuously. This helps deepen the flavour of the tomato purée.
Add the roasted vegetables
- Remove the roasted vegetables from the oven and carefully transfer them to the saucepan, along with all the juices and oil from the baking dish.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins and add the soft garlic to the pan. Discard the skins.
- Add in a handful of fresh basil
- Pour in the chicken stock and stir everything together.
- Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 minutes to allow the flavours to come together.
Blend the soup
- Remove the pan from the heat and use an immersion blender to blend the soup until smooth.
- If the soup is thicker than you prefer, add a little extra stock or water until you reach your desired consistency.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning with more herby sea salt and black pepper if needed.
- Stir through 30ml of double cream and return to a low heat to warm through before serving.
Prepare the cheese toasties
- Combine the grated cheddar, mozzarella and Parmesan in a bowl.
- Spread butter over one side of each slice of bread.
- Place two slices of bread butter-side down and divide the cheese mixture between them.
- Top with the remaining bread slices, keeping the buttered sides facing outwards.
- Heat a frying pan over medium-low heat and add the sandwiches.
- Cook for 3–4 minutes on each side, pressing down gently with a spatula, until the bread is golden and crisp and the cheese has melted. Lower the heat if the bread is browning too quickly.
- Allow the toasties to rest for a minute before cutting them in half.
Serve
- Ladle the roasted tomato soup into bowls.
- Garnish with chilli flakes, some double cream and chopped basil!
- Serve immediately with the hot, crispy cheese toasties for dipping.