… and what to do with red tomatoes

Last week I told you about my green tomato glut and what do with it. This week some of them have ripened and I have red tomatoes. Not exactly a glut but a decent crop.

In the past I’ve always thought that the best thing to do with home grown tomatoes was to eat them fresh and, preferably, warm straight from the plant, but I discovered a couple of years ago, when I really did have a red tomato glut, that the best thing to do with them was to make fresh tomato soup. So I saved up this little supply for soup tonight.

Fresh tomato soup

• 1kg tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• olive oil
• some fresh basil leaves
• 300ml tomato juice

1. Chop the onion and garlic finely and cook gently in the olive oil in a large soup pot until soft
2. Chop the tomatoes roughly and add to the pot
3. Cover with a lid and cook very gently for about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes have more or less disintegrated
4. Add the tomato juice
5. Whizz in a liquidiser or with a stick whizzer
6. Re heat, add the basil leaves and a little salt and pepper

This made enough for two of us for tea tonight and enough left over to freeze for a cold winter’s day when we need a reminder of the summer.

Meanwhile, there are still lots of green tomatoes which will be turned into more marmalade or chutney and some of which will continue to ripen slowly, maybe providing more soup.