Now, you should know my position on "BBQ season" by now, but just in case you don't... THERE'S NO SUCH DAMN THING!
But soup season is 100% a thing, and it feels to me like we've recently cruised right into it.
Cooking outside is something I think we should enjoy as a year-round pastime, so as the summer ends I'm going to bring you more and more seasonal recipes, to show you the power of using your BBQ all through the year.
Smoked tomato soup seems obvious, right? But I've only been making it since last year, so I figured some of you might not have had this idea either. It's delicious, rich and is one of those foods where a tiny lick of smoke adds a huge depth of flavour.
Makes: 2 big bowls of soup
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 2 and 1/4 hours plus firelighting
Serving suggestions: perfect with toast with lashings of butter, or a cheese toasty
Ingredients
1kg fresh tomatoes, the riper the better
Bulb of garlic
1 large red onion
1 fresh red chilli
2 tbsp cold pressed British rapeseed oil
1 tbsp smoked paprika
Large pinch salt
Large pinch pepper
Small bunch fresh basil
500ml chicken stock (use vegetable if you prefer to keep it vegetarian)
Juice of 1/4 of a lemon
Method
Fire up your BBQ for indirect cooking at 150°C, with a single chunk of oak smoking wood.
Halve or quarter any larger tomatoes, break down your bulb of garlic and peel the cloves, chop your red onion into eighths and top & deseed your chilli - if you like it hotter, feel free to leave the seeds in.
Add everything to a deep baking tray with the oil, paprika, salt and pepper, and toss to coat.
Pop the baking tray on your BBQ making sure it isn't exposed to direct heat - on a kamado this means using your deflector plates, on a kettle or other steel BBQ this means keeping the food away from your heat source, or rigging up something to deflect heat - a foil wall can work well!
Smoke for two hours; some temperature fluctuation is okay but keep it under 160°C.
After one hour the tomatoes will be cooking in their own juices, and after two hours the liquid will have evaporated - this is where the flavour of the tomatoes intensifies, and is an important step.
Pull the baking tray from your BBQ and add the smoked ingredients to your blender, with a large bunch of fresh basil.
Slowly add your chicken stock around 100ml at a time, using the pulse function on your blender until all of your liquid has been added and you have the consistency you like.
Be very careful blending hot ingredients - technically you should wait until cold with most blenders, but I'm too impatient!
Taste for seasoning and if your soup tastes at all flat, add a squeeze of lemon juice and another pinch of salt, and blend again.
It's time to serve, so make yourself some toast for dipping, or if you're in need of a food-based hug, have a cheese toasty ready.
Pour into two bowls, garnish with a little more fresh basil, then dip, slurp and enjoy... it's comfort food season, baby! 😍
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