tomato soup with chicken, pesto and iggy's croutons

A few weeks back at the Eveleigh market I scored the best over ripe/not so perfect heirloom tomatoes, you might call them rejects. To me they were perfection and perfect for what I was craving.
Tomato Soup!

As to make it extra nourishing I made my chicken in a pot. That way I would have stock for the soup and the slow cooked melting chicken flesh for in the actual soup.



for the Tomato Soup you'll need (roughly);
1kg of very ripe tomatoes (heirloom if you can get your hands on them) or cherry tomatoes work well too.
2-3 french shallots or eschalots (whatever you call them) or 1large red onion
4-5 small cloves of garlic
a handful of sage
2-3 sprigs of rosemary
olive oil
salt and pepper
chilli optional



for the pesto you'll need;
in a blender put...
a couple of handfuls of basil leaves (washed)
olive oil (depends on how runny you like it)
one small clove of garlic
a good handful of grated parmesan
salt and pepper
a little squeeze of lemon
blend
for the bagel croutons;
1-2 iggy's bagels (preferably a day or two old and seeded are the bomb)
cut into bite size cubes
drizzled in extra virgin olive oil
sprinkled with crushed chilli and salt
fryed in clarified butter until crunchy and golden
serve immediately.



so easy to make;
wash and cut your tomatoes
place them in a baking tray along with...
the eschalots or onion cut in quarters and garlic cloves whole
the sprigs of rosemary and the sage
give it all a good drenching with extra virgin olive oil and season
bake in the oven at 150c for 2 hours
when the 2 hours are up put your slow cooked tomatoes in a saucepan and cover with chicken stock or if you're a vegetarian water will be fine.
bring to a simmer and leave it for 10 min or so.
then pass it through a sieve until only the skins, seeds and herbs are left (remembering to scrap the bottom of the sieve every now and again)
check your seasoning

to serve;
simply serve in bowls with pieces of chicken from your stock (if you didn't make my chicken in a pot for this you won't have any chicken but its still delicious without)
a couple of teaspoons of the pesto and a really decent handful of the iggy's croutons (and some extras on the side for when you run out)
serves at least 6 with leftovers for the freezer

This is definitely one of my all time top five favourite soups!

©Michelle Schoeps 2013

All recipes and photos by Michelle Schoeps