I am South African so I say tom-ah-to but no matter! The wonderful Abby (who has amazing travel disaster stories) asked me to post my recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup.

Sure I said – only two problems: Firstly I don’t really have a recipe so I am going to do my very best to put this recipe down but it is very forgiving so it doesn’t really matter if you use a bit more or a bit less.  Secondly this is a stress blog and I had to find a good reason for putting a tomato soup recipe on here.  So I had to look up the humble tomato’s stress relieving qualities and here’s what I found:

–         Tomatoes are rich in lycopene which reduces your chances of getting prostate cancer and heart attacks and it also decreases the damage to healthy brain cells.

–         A study was done and written up in the Journal of Affective Disorders that found that people who eat tomatoes two to six times a week had a 46% lower chance of developing depression.  So eat more tomatoes or eat more tomato soup!

This soup is an exquisite smooth tasting treat.

–         Preheat your oven to 120°C (250°F)

–         Prepare a large baking tray

–         Cut about 1kg of tomatoes into wedges (if they are small tomatoes, leave them whole) – I like to use a variety of different tomatoes but you can use whatever is available. Spread them over the tray.

–         Peel some cloves of garlic (according to taste – which for me is a lot) and throw them onto the tray.)

–         Peel and cut 2 onions – add it to the mix.

–         Sprinkle basil leaves over and then drizzle with olive oil.

–         Season with salt and pepper.

–         Roast for about 3 hours or until the tomatoes are reduced and jammy (I don’t know if that is a real word but hopefully you know what I mean.

–         What you do in those 3 hours is up to you – have a nice relaxing bath, watch a movie, knit a scarf, have a nap…

–         Let the tomatoes cool down and then scrape them into a blender with all the juice and bits from the tray.

–         Add 2 – 3 cups of stock and blend well (for a creamy soup, add some cream instead of some of the stock – that is decadent!)

–         If you don’t like bits in your soup, strain the soup before serving.

This soup works brilliantly hot or cold.

I like to serve at room temperature with a dollop of pesto and a slice of garlic bread!