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.
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.
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.
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- optionalDirections:
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.
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nags — August 22, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
This soup looks delicious! My mom grows tomatoes too and each time we come home she makes rasam, a south indian soup :)
Christopher — September 28, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
Made it. Loved IT! I actually added half of the avocado to my Vitamix and diced the other half. Splendid! Also added some jalapeño. Thanks for the instruction!
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