Tomato and Raspberry Soup

Tomato and raspberry soup is the ultimate comfort food. The warmth of the tomatoes is lightened with the sweetness of raspberry for a delicious treat.

There is nothing like a warming bowl of soup on a cold day. When the ice is lying on the ground outside it makes you feel warm and comforted.

Tomato soup is one of those perfect comfort foods. The bright red colour looks cheerful and eating it is almost like eating a bowl of sunshine. With tomato soup on the table life cannot look bad.

With Christmas on the way it is nice to try unusual flavour combinations to add a bit of interest to the festive table. Tomato and raspberry soup would make a lovely starter for the festive meal.

The raspberry adds a little zing to the comfort of the tomato soup making it a little special. The red colour is perfect for the festive table and the swirl of cream makes it look special. If you have vegetarians to cater for it would be the ideal starter for them.

For some reason this year there was a bumper crop of raspberries. My freezer is still full of bags of frozen raspberries. I ended up freezing loads as they were appearing on the canes as fast as I picked them. Raspberries remind me of the summer, the sweet tangy taste makes you think of sunny days and warmth. Adding some raspberry puree to the tomato soup is almost like bringing a sprinkle of summer to the festive table.

A good soup needs some lovely crusty bread rolls to go alongside it. There is nothing nicer than a warm roll with a smear of butter to enjoy with your soup. Paul Hollywood came to my rescue by creating me some lovely wheatsheaf crusty rolls.

Paul Hollywood did not visit my home in person, which is probably a good thing I don’t think he would have been impressed by my kitchen. Paul Hollywood has just created a range of ready to bake rolls produced using simple, good quality ingredients.They are called Paul Hollywood Ready to Bake.

All you need to do is to put them in the oven for ten minutes and you have the perfect roll to serve with your soup. Choose from Flour dusted wheatsheaf crusty rolls, a mixed pack of poppy and sesame seed topped rolls (3 of each) or a mixed pack of multiseed (linseed, sunflower, millet and sesame seeds) rolls. The rolls are perfect not just with soup, ideal for serving with stew or just making a sandwich as well. You can find Paul Hollywood Ready To Bake in Waitrose, Tesco, Ocado and Budgens stores,RRP £1.49

Tomato and raspberry soup recipe

Tomato and raspberry soup

Alison

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Servings 6

Ingredients

  

• 2 tbsp veg oil
• 1 onion
• 2 sticks celery
• 2 small carrots
• 2 397 g can chopped tomatos
• 300 ml veg stock
• Ground black pepper
• 450 g raspberries sieved
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsps caster sugar
• Garnish
• Mint
• Yoghurt

Instructions

 

• Heat oil in pan. Chop onion, celery and carrot and fry for five minutes until soft Add tomatoes and stock. Season with pepper. Bring to boil and simmer 15 minutes. Pass raspberries though sieve to make purée.
• Add raspberry purée lemon juice and sugar to the soup and check the seasoning. Add salt and pepper if needed. Blend until smooth. Serve with swirl of natural yoghurt and a sprig of mint

The rolls were the perfect accompaniment for the soup which was warming and zingy, the perfect pick me up for a freezing cold day. They also looked impressive and would be fabulous to serve to guests, you could pretend you made them yourself.

For other warming soup ideas why not try potato soup, with its added bacon and cheese it makes a perfect meal. If you had time you could make some home made bread to serve with it.