Tomato soup with garlic bread (GF) (NF) (V)

Ramadan Mubarak. This is such a simple recipe and it led me to realise how much sugar is added to tinned soups which is so unnecessary. Maybe you'd think of buying a ready made baguette from the supermarket as "cheating" but admit it, most of you probably get ready made frozen garlic bread from the supermarket anyway... and yes, I have noticed that the freezer section does sell ready made gluten free garlic bread, but admittedly I think the manufacturer was a bit stingy when it came to how much garlic and butter to put in, so I prefer to make it like this. I saw a soup recipe a lot like this one on TV, but this recipe is how I prefer my garlic bread more along these lines.

Whatever baguette you buy, check the label to ensure it conforms to your dietary requirements in case you're looking for something egg free or to suit other allergies or intolerances. If you want the recipe to be dairy free; the soup itself is vegan so just look for a dairy free baguette and grind the garlic into some olive or rapeseed oil instead of butter. This recipe is based on the baguette being roughly 12 inches long.


Gluten Free
Nut Free
Vegetarian

400g tin san Marzano tomatoes
1 finely chopped shallot
a handful of roughly chopped basil
1 ready made gluten free baguette
60g butter (preferably left at room temperature for an hour)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
a little salt and ground black pepper to taste

- Preheat the oven to 180 celcius or gas mark 5

- In a food processor or with a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic, mix in the butter, oregano, salt and up to half of the olive oil and mix together

- With a knife, every 2-3cm make cut marks into the baguette that go 3/4 deep (ie cut most of the way through but not all the way through), then stuff each of those cut gaps with the garlic butter mixture, then place on a baking tray and bake for about 10-15 minutes by which time the butter should melt and the baguette should be golden brown

- Meanwhile put the remaining olive oil in a pan on medium heat, then add the shallot; you want to cook the shallot for about a minute till it is softened, but not changing colour as we don't want it to turn brown

- Add the tinned tomatoes and most of the basil (reserve one sprig for serving at the end) and simmer for 2-3 minutes, then blitz the soup using a blender or stick blender (if using a blender, you have to remove the middle part of the lid and cover it with a tea-towel for this bit), add salt and black pepper to taste and stir

- Serve the soup in a soup bowl with the remaining sprig of basil on top (optional: you can also drizzle a little olive or basil infused oil over the soup at this point) and serve the garlic bread on the side