Anne Morgan Ripe tomatoes go into Delia Smith’s tomato soup quartered, skins and all, once an onion and a potato have softened slowly in olive oil. They simmer with garlic in a little stock for 25 minutes, then the whole pan is blended and pushed through a sieve to catch the skins and pips. Finished with chopped basil and crisp Parmesan croutons, it serves 4.
It’s one of her oldest recipes, printed as Fresh Tomato Soup with Basil in her Complete Cookery Course in 1983 and again in 1992. Beside it she tells how, early in her career, a reader wrote to her newspaper’s Editor to say her tomato soup didn’t work. So the Editor took it home, made it himself, and wrote back to say how good it was.
By the time it reached The Delia Collection: Soup in 2003, it had gained the Parmesan croutons and a little crème fraîche on top. It’s the classic among her tomato soups, the homemade one to make when tomatoes are properly ripe, while her roasted, cream and speedy versions are explained in the questions below.
Delia Smith’s Tomato Soup with Basil
Course: SoupsCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy4
servings15
minutes40
minutes200
kcalBright and smooth, with crunchy Parmesan croutons, for 4.
Ingredients
- For the soup:
700g (1lb 8oz) ripe red tomatoes, cut into quarters, skins left on
1½ tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped small
1 medium potato, peeled and chopped small
275ml (10fl oz) vegetable stock
1 clove garlic, crushed
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the Parmesan croutons:
50g (2oz) bread, cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 dessertspoon finely grated Parmesan
- To serve:
2 teaspoons chopped basil, plus 4 small sprigs
2 rounded teaspoons crème fraîche
Directions
- Soften: Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4 (fan 160°C). Gently heat the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan, add the onion and potato and let them soften slowly, without browning, for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Simmer: Add the tomatoes, stir well and cook for a minute. Pour in the stock, stir, season with salt and pepper and add the garlic, then cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
- Croutons: Meanwhile, stir the bread cubes and oil together in a small bowl until the oil is soaked up, then toss in the Parmesan. Spread them on a baking sheet and bake on a high shelf for 10 minutes, until crisp and golden. Set a timer, as they’re simple to forget, then leave them to cool.
- Blend and sieve: Liquidise the soup in a blender or food processor, in batches if you need to, then press it through a sieve to remove the skins and pips.
- Finish: Return the soup to the pan, reheat it, check the seasoning and stir in the chopped basil.
- Serve: Ladle into bowls and top each one with a swirl of crème fraîche, a few croutons and a sprig of basil.
Notes
- The sieve does the peeling for you, so there's no need to skin the tomatoes first.
FAQs
How do I serve it cold?
Chill it well. In her 1992 Cookery Course Delia says that in hot weather it’s every bit as good served ice-cold, and the 2003 version offers it chilled as an alternative too.
I’d chill it for a few hours in the fridge and add the basil and croutons just before serving, so they keep their colour and crunch, which is my own habit.
Can I use dried basil?
You can, and her 1992 version has a note for this. Use 1 teaspoon of dried basil instead, and add it with the tomatoes rather than at the end. As I read it, that gives the dried herb the whole simmer to soften.
What is her roasted tomato soup?
It’s the one for when tomatoes are short of flavour. She first printed it in her Summer Collection (1993), then in her Vegetarian Collection and the spring chapter of her Soup book. Here 700g of skinned tomatoes are halved, topped with garlic and a piece of oiled basil leaf, and roasted at 190°C for 50 minutes to an hour, until the edges just begin to blacken.
The roasted tomatoes and all their juices are blended with a potato simmered in water and tomato purée, and she leaves the seeds in because she likes the texture. Each bowl gets a swirl of basil pounded with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, plus croutons made with olive paste.
She admits you might wonder why anyone would bother roasting tomatoes just for soup. Her answer is the taste, especially in spring, when really ripe tomatoes are hard to find.
Does Delia have a cream of tomato soup?
Not quite. The nearest is the Tomato, Apple and Celery Cream Soup she credits to the cookery writer John Tovey, though there’s no cream in it at all. Tomatoes, apples and celery, about 150 to 175g of each, go in with their stalks and cores, along with onion softened in butter, dry sherry, nutmeg and a pinch of ground ginger.
What makes it special is his method. The vegetables are covered with a double layer of damp greaseproof paper and a lid, then sweated very gently for an hour before the stock goes in. After that it’s blended, sieved and served with a slice of apple and some chives.
What’s the fastest tomato soup she makes?
Her Bloody Mary Soup, which she reckons must be the fastest soup on record. Three skinned and finely chopped tomatoes simmer for about 3 minutes, then go into 510ml of tomato juice with Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, lime juice and a few drops of Tabasco. It serves 2.
She calls it more of a Virgin Mary, but says there’s nothing to stop you adding a shot of vodka. A swirl of Greek yoghurt, a sprig of watercress and a sprinkle of celery salt finish each bowl.
Why is there a potato in it?
It thickens the soup without flour or cream. As it softens with the onion and then simmers, the potato breaks down, so once the soup is blended it gives a smooth, gentle body to what would otherwise be thin tomato juice, which is my own explanation of why she uses it.
