Bread and Tomato Soup

With an abundance of both rainy weather and baguettes, I thought it would be a perfect time to try out this recipe for bread and tomato soup. The roasted cherry tomatoes give the soup a sweet and tangy flavour, and this soup is incredibly warming and filling. I've never used basil stalks in cooking before, but they definitely gave the soup a strong basil flavour, so maybe I will try them in other recipes too. I think this soup will become a new favourite for chilly days.

Ingredients
500g ripe cherry tomatoes
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
A large bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks finely chopped
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
800g tin of good-quality plum tomatoes
500g or 2 large handfuls of stale good-quality bread

Method
Prick the cherry tomatoes and toss them with one sliced clove of garlic and a quarter of the basil leaves. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, put them in a roasting tray and cook in the oven at 180ºC/350ºF for about 20 - 30 minutes.

Heat a glug of olive oil in a large pot and add the remaining garlic and the basil stalks. Stir around and gently fry for a minute until softened. Add the tinned tomatoes, then fill the tin with water and add that. Break the tomatoes up with a spoon, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Tear the bread up into thumb-sized pieces and add them to the pan. Mix well and season to taste. Tear in the basil leaves and let the soup sit on a low heat for 10 minutes. By this time the roasted tomatoes will be done; remove them from the tray, scraping all the lovely sticky bits from the bottom. Pour them into the soup with all the juices, basil and oil from the tray.

Give the soup a good stir – the soup should have a thick, silky, porridgey texture, so, if need be, adjust it with a little water. Then remove it from the heat and add 6 or 7 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Divide between your bowls and serve with a little extra basil or shaved parmesan cheese on top if you like. Serves 4.