“For the opening of Bel Café we wanted to do some menu items that absolutely everybody would like: from travellers staying in the hotel to locals working at a desk nearby. Something that’s light and fresh, rich but vegetarian—vegan even. It had to be tomato soup. This is just a simple purée, but it works. It’s been on the café menu since day one.” From 2021 Shortlisted Cookbook, Hawksworth: The Cookbook, by David Hawksworth, Jacob Richler and Stéphanie Nӧel.
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ROASTED TOMATO SOUP
Ingredients
- 20 Roma tomatoes halved
- Olive oil for drizzling
- 30 g (2½ Tbsp) sugar
- Salt
- 30 mL (2 Tbsp0 vegetable oil
- 1 small onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic sliced
- 1 stalk celery diced
- 1 carrot peeled and diced
- ½ fennel bulb diced
- ½ Thai chili seeded
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) tomato paste
- 30 mL (2 Tbsp) balsamic vinegar
- ¼ bunch basil
- ¼ bunch parsley
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F).
- Season the tomatoes with a drizzle of olive oil, the sugar, and a generous sprinkling of salt. Roast on a baking tray lined with parchment paper until the skins burst open and a little colour has developed, about 15 minutes.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat, and sweat the onion and garlic until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the celery, carrot, fennel, and chili and increase the heat. Sauté until the vegetables have a bit of colour, about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring continuously, until the paste has caramelized, about 5 minutes. Season with salt. Add the roasted tomatoes. Add just enough water to cover and an extra pinch of sugar and salt. Bring to a boil then lower the heat and simmer until all the vegetables are very soft, about 30 minutes.
- Add the balsamic vinegar and herbs and let steep for 5 minutes. Blend in batches in a high-speed blender until smooth. Season with salt.
- Enjoy with a drizzle of good-quality olive oil and cracked black pepper.
Notes
Excerpted from Hawksworth by David Hawksworth, Jacob Richler and Stéphanie Nöel. Copyright © 2020 David Hawksworth. Photography by Clinton Hussey. Published by Appetite by Random House®, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.