If you love soups and bold flavors, this is the ultimate soup. It's made by roasting ripe sweet tomatoes alongside garlic, thyme and olive oil. The purée that comes from that roasting is absolutely delicious and intense.
If you like, you can keep it and use it to season roasts or accompany any pasta, or you can use it for a slow simmer as we do today, to achieve a unique soup.
Honestly, it never lasts long at home — I've said it all!
INGREDIENTS
For the soup:
- 2.5kg of ripe tomatoes of various types, halved
- Half a bunch of thyme
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pesto:
- 30g sunflower seeds
- 1 small garlic clove
- 75g cheddar or aged goat's cheese, finely grated
- A good pinch of sea salt
- 1 large handful of basil
- 100ml extra virgin olive oil
For the mackerel:
- 2 medium fresh mackerel, filleted
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 fresh bay leaf, torn
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 2 sprigs of thyme
Le Creuset round cast-iron cocotte
PREPARATION
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Place the tomato halves (you can cut very large ones into quarters) cut side up on a baking tray large enough for them all to fit in a single layer. Scatter the thyme sprigs and the sliced garlic over them, then drizzle the oil and season with salt and pepper.
- Put the tray in the oven and roast the tomatoes for 45–60 minutes, or until they start to shrivel at the edges and are about to collapse.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. Using a masher or a sieve, press the tomatoes against a sieve, extracting all their dense, aromatic juice.
- Set aside any remaining skins and seeds. Pour the tomato juice into the casserole and bring to a boil. You can adjust the balance between sweetness and acidity with a little cider vinegar or a pinch of sugar. Either way, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to your liking. If the soup is thin, you can let it boil a bit longer to reduce and thicken.
- Meanwhile, prepare the pesto. Put a pan dry over low to medium heat. Add the sunflower seeds and cook, stirring regularly for a few minutes until the seeds are toasted and fragrant. Remove from the heat and let cool.
- Put the cooled toasted seeds in a food processor or grinder along with the garlic, cheese and salt, and pulse until quite fine. Add the basil and continue pulsing until everything is finely chopped, then gradually add the oil. When everything is combined into a smooth, even texture, season with pepper to taste and transfer the pesto to a bowl.
- When you're about to serve the soup, you can cook the fish. Reheat the non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil, the bay leaf, the thyme and the crushed garlic clove — two flavors that work wonderfully when cooking with mackerel.
- Cut the fillets in half, giving you eight small pieces. Lightly season the mackerel with salt and pepper and place the pieces skin-side down in the skillet. Cook for 2–3 minutes, until the fillets are almost fully cooked, then turn them over and turn off the heat. The fillets will finish cooking from the residual heat of the skillet.
- Using a ladle, portion the soup into four wide bowls or soup bowls. Add two pieces of fish to each bowl and spoon the pesto over the top.
- Finish with a drizzle of your best olive oil, some black pepper and a handful of basil leaves, if you have any left.
Notes
- Mackerel is a flavorful, oily fish with incredible taste. It's important that it be fresh from the day. Look for fish with firm, bright eyes at the market and you won't be disappointed.
- I like using sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts in the pesto because I love the flavor they give. Hazelnuts and walnuts also work well.
- You can swap the mackerel for any fish you like. You might prefer seared scallops or, if fish isn't your thing, you could try caramelized fennel or even a generous portion of intensely roasted zucchini.
