Roast Tomato And Basil Soup With Olive Oil Toasts - cooking recipe

Ingredients

800 g tomatoes
1 red pepper
2 -3 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil, plus
extra olive oil, for drizzling
1 liter vegetable stock
1/2 cup basil leaves, roughly chopped
1 French bread, for toasting
salt, to taste
fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 220 C or about 425-450\u00b0F.
Quarter each tomato, or cut slightly smaller if they are really big, and place in a roasting tin that is safe for both the oven and stove-top.
Halve the pepper, deseed it and then cut each half into about 3 pieces.
Add the pepper and chopped garlic in with the tomatoes along with the olive oil.
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Roast for about 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and their skin has started to blacken, but just slightly.
You don't want to incinerate them!
Pour the stock into the roasting tin.
If you don't have a tin that will go on top of the stove you will have to transfer everything into a large pot.
Add in the basil and bring briefly to a boil.
Use a blender to liquidise most of the mixture, leaving just a couple handfuls of tomatoes and pepper behind.
Drain them of any liquid, then finely chop the tomato and pepper.
Season to taste.
Just before you are ready to serve, cut the bread thinly on an angle and toast it under the grill.
Pile a bit of the chopped tomato and pepper in the centre of the bowls and ladle the soup around it.
Float the toast on top and drizzle with olive oil.