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Tomato and vanilla soup

Vanilla and tomatoes are a secret combination that will make you swoon over your soup.

Never heard of tomato and vanilla soup? Neither had I until recently, but I am so glad that I have now. I discovered this taste combination through my fabulous Flavour Thesaurus, which inspires me more than any regular recipe book ever will.

Cooking this soup produces a beautiful, rich, slightly sweet dish. When I served it at a supper party recently, I didn’t tell the guests what the secret ingredient was, and left them guessing what it was that made the starter so warm and lovely.

Choose some meaty, flavoursome tomatoes. If I’d grown some this year, I would have made this soup with the beautiful ‘White Queen’ tomatoes that I love so much as their flesh has a creamy taste to it, and a white tomato soup with vanilla would have completely thrown my guests.

Ingredients

(serves 6)

15 large beefsteak tomatoes
6 sundried tomatoes
6 red onions
1 vanilla pod
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp crushed chillis
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
300ml milk
200 ml red wine
1 tbsp olive oil

1. Chop the onions finely and caramelise with the butter and sugar until tender and browned, then add the garlic, crushed, and fry until golden brown. Drizzle the olive oil over the tomatoes in a roasting dish, and place in the oven at 200 degrees for half an hour until the skins are wrinkled.

2. Add the tomatoes to the saucepan with the onions and stir well. Add the sundried tomatoes, the cinnamon stick, the red wine and the crushed chillies along with 100ml of the milk and bring to the boil.

3. In a separate pan, bring the rest of the milk to the boil with the vanilla pod, which you have seared along one side, and then simmer gently for ten minutes. Remove the vanilla pod and pour the milk into the main saucepan, then scrape out the black vanilla seeds into the main pan too. Leave to simmer for 20 mins.

4. Remove the cinnamon stick from the saucepan, and leave the mixture to cool thoroughly before blending. Add more milk - not water - to thin the mixture and make sure it is blended to a silky liquid.

5. Return the soup to the pan and bring to the heat again for five minutes. Serve with lovely crusty bread and butter.

 

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