Healthy Green Kitchen Raw Tomato Basil Soup

Aug 19

2009

Raw Tomato Basil Soup

Healthy Snacks, Starters, Raw Foods, Recipes, Simple and Fast, Soups and Stews, Vegan

It’s still too hot to cook much, so I’m on a blended soup kick.

While I like traditional cooked tomato soup as much as the next person, I think this raw tomato basil soup is even better, especially when you can make it with seasonal organic tomatoes. It’s a bit like a gazpacho, but with a paired down list of ingredients. It’s also easier to make than most gazpacho recipes.

tomatoes

I grow a very large variety of heirloom tomatoes in my garden, so I like to mix different colored tomatoes in this soup. A combination of red and yellow tomatoes yields a soup that looks remarkably similar to a cream-based one.

Basil and tomatoes get along fabulously, both in the garden and in recipes, so I grow lots of basil, too.

basil

Where I live (in New York), basil is an annual. If you live in a warm climate, it might be a perennial (lucky you!). Growing basil is easy to do as it’s very simple to start from seed- I have lemon basil, Thai basil, purple basil and more in my garden; for this recipe, you just need standard Italian sweet basil.

Print Save

Recipe for Raw Tomato Soup with Basil

Yield: 1-2 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

*4 fresh tomatoes, preferably organic heirloom varieties, cut into quarters
*1 tablespoon bottled sun-dried tomatoes in oil (or 3 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water to hydrate for 15-20 minutes, and then drained plus 2 tsp. olive oil)
*1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
*1/4 tsp. Himalayan or sea salt to taste
*additional fresh basil and diced avocado for garnish- optional

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients, except those for the garnish, in a blender (I use a Blendtec, but the Vita-Mix is also great) and process until fairly smooth.

2. If you want it to be completely pureed, blend away until it's the consistency you like; I personally prefer it to retain some texture. Pour into bowl(s) and add diced avocado and additional fresh basil to garnish, if desired. Serves 1-2; I can easily eat this whole recipe myself.