SOUPS WITH TOMATO BASE RECIPES

Steps:

• 1. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Pick the basil leaves and tear into pieces.
  2. Place a large non-stick frying pan on the heat and pour in 4 generous lugs of olive oil. Add the garlic, shake the pan around a bit and, once the garlic begins to colour lightly, add the basil and the tomatoes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, mush and squash the tomatoes as much as you can.
  3. Season the sauce with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. As soon as it comes to the boil, remove the pan from the heat.
  4. Strain the sauce through a coarse sieve into a bowl, using your wooden spoon to push any larger bits of tomato through. Discard the basil and garlic that will be left in the sieve, but make sure you scrape any of the tomatoey goodness off the back of the sieve into the bowl.
  5. Pour the sauce back into the pan, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 5 minutes to concentrate the flavours. It will be ready when it’s the perfect consistency for spreading on your pizza.
  6. Store the sauce in a clean jar in the fridge – it’ll keep for a week or so.

Steps:

• 1. To make the basil oil, pick the basil leaves and finely chop the stalks. Put a few leaves in a bowl of cold water for later, then place the rest in a pestle and mortar. Add a pinch of sea salt and bash the basil leaves until they have broken down into a dark green paste. Transfer the paste to a jug and add your extra virgin olive oil. Mix together well.
  2. To make the soup, add a lug of olive oil to your biggest pan over a medium heat. Peel and slice the garlic and add to the pan with the basil stalks. Fry for about a minute then add all the tomatoes. Stir in 150ml of water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a medium heat and let the tomatoes cook for 5 minutes until they are slightly broken down. If your tomatoes are nice and ripe they’ll be naturally sweet and soft, which means you won’t need to cook the soup for too long.
  3. Remove the soup from the heat, add a splash of red wine vinegar then carefully blitz with a hand blender until you get a consistency that’s to your liking.
  4. Serve in warm bowls with a spoonful of bright green basil oil swirled on top and sprinkled with the reserved basil leaves. You can even eat any leftovers cold from the fridge for a really fresh, light soup.