Roast Plum Tomato & Basil Soup Recipe with Sage Croutons from The Love Hotel, The Gibson, the place to be if you want to be in the “First Dates” Tv show! This delicate soup recipe promise to keep you warm on the cold, freezing autumnal weather. Perfect for lunch or dinner, give it a try and impressed your friends or that special date.
Ingredients:
(Serves 4)
– 1kg tomatoes, ripe
– 1 onion, peeled and diced
– 1 carrot, peeled and diced
– 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
– 2 bunch of basil, small, separated into leaves and stalks
– 300ml of vegetable stock
– Salt & black pepper
– 100ml pomace olive oil
For croutons
– 1 garlic clove, chopped
– 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
– 2 slices of brioche bread, large and thick (1.5cm)
– 1/4 tsp sea salt
– freshly ground black pepper
– 30g of fresh sage leaves, trimmed
Method:
Soup
1. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Cut the tomatoes in half and arrange cut-side up in a baking dish.
2. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes, until the tomatoes are totally soft and beginning to char around the edges.
3. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the onion, carrot and garlic. Cook for approximately 7-8 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, chop the basil stalks and add to the pan. Cook for another minute.
4. Add the roasted tomatoes to the pan along with the vegetable stock. Bring it to the boil, then turn the heat down. 5. Cover and leave to simmer for about 10-15 minutes until all vegetables are very soft.
6. Blitz the soup in a blender then return to the pan and gently reheat.
Croutons
1. To prepare the bread for the croutons, cut the brioche slices into cubes and add to a medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle over garlic and sage. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle over the olive oil and carefully toss it all together.
3. Arrange the cubes of brioche in a single layer on a baking tray and roast in the oven 170°C for 8-10 minutes, shaking once or twice as they cook, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Basil oil
1. To make the oil, wash and blanch basil leaves in the boiling water for 30 seconds. Refresh basil in the icing water then chop roughly and mix with the olive oil.
2. Add all to the blender and blitz for 5 minutes. Pass the oil through a fine sieve. Transfer the basil oil to the container and keep in the fridge.
To finish
1. Serve soup hot. Drizzle with a bit of basil oil and garnish with sage croutons.
Igor Cikarev is the executive head chef at The Gibson Hotel. A Russian native from Riga, Igor got his start in the Latvian capital and has continued to grow his experience over the years.
Chef Igor also cooks for many of Ireland’s romance seekers on RTÉ’s popular TV show, First Dates, which is filmed at The Gibson Hotel in Dublin.
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