Food for Thought: Autumnal Tomato Soup

06/11/2024 2 Comments
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Food for Thought with Suzanne Dunaway

Autumnal Tomato Soup

I returned from Italy, where tomatoes were having a hard time, to a French garden full of  San Marzano and Andine Cornue, lovely horn-shaped fruits for sauces and soups.

This is a recipe I adore and have made for years with the rich tomatoes picked after summer’s end.  There are still lovely tomatoes in the markets in this part of the world. We are so lucky to live in the Pyrénées-Orientales!

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Recipe

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 6 large ripe tomatoes, cut in half
  • 1 sweet onion (Cevennes or those beautiful purple ones), chopped coarse
  • A sprig of fresh basil
  • A squeeze of lemon
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • A sprig of coriander
  • A grate of pepper
  • A teaspoon of butter

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Method

In a small soup pot, heat the olive oil on low and in the bowl of a food processor, whiz everything up until fairly smooth. Add the tomato purée to the olive oil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the butter and eat as is or use a hand mixer to make a smoother soup.

I add rosemary-flavored croutons fait maison to the soup bowl or a dollop of Greek yogurt. Put your imagination to work. This is also a nice pasta sauce or basic tomato sauce for other recipes, but as a warm soup on a cold November day, it can’t be beat.

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Meet the chef

P-O Life reader, Suzanne Dunaway, has cooked since she was 5 years old, when she made cinnamon pinwheels from her mother’s pastry dough.

She LOVES to cook. Some might say she LIVES to cook. The smells, the tastes, the textures…

She is a firm believer in simplicity and creates her recipes in the ethos of ‘anyone can cook’.

After years of experience in her own kitchen, cooking schools and private classes all over the world, in this weekly blog, Suzanne shares with us her PO-inspired creations.

With many strings to her bow, she is also an artist and columnist, with two published cookbooks.

Get a copy of her ‘No Need to Knead: Handmade Artisan Breads in 90 Minutes’ here  

Or her 5 star rated book ‘Rome, at Home: The Spirit of La Cucina Romana in Your Own Kitchen’ here

All content and recipes are copyright of Suzanne Dunaway.

Tempted?

If you test this recipe, please share your comments and photos in the space below.

Comments

  1. Greetings from Nevada City in Sierra Foothills of Northern California,

    I love love love the simplicity of your delicious tomato soup recipe. These meaty end of season tomatoes indeed make a hearty November soup on cold days like we are experiencing this year due to an early snowfall. You have a voice in your writing that always makes me feel like you are with me in the kitchen as I prepare your recipes. So from my world in the Sierra Foothills to yours in P-O region of France, I send my thanks and wishes for a cozy holiday season .

  2. Hey, would LOVE some comments or thoughts on food from YOU, readers. Does no one have an opinion or suggestion? Hard to believe, haha.
    Happy cooking from me.

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