All About the Soup

Lately I've been wanting to try my hand at making a soup. A while back I made a split pea soup that turned out really nice, however for summer I'm feeling something a little bit lighter. I found this recipe today for a Tomato and Avocado Soup with Basil Croutons. It looks so yummy and I love the twist of the classic tomato soup with some avocado. The recipe looks rather simple, I might just give it a go this week for dinner.

What do you think I should pair it with? Perhaps a grown up version of grilled cheese? I'm making myself rather hungry!

Here's the recipe, I converted some of the amounts to cups and ounces to make it a bit easier, enjoy!

Tomato & Avocado Soup with Basil Croutons
Serves 6

Ingredients:
¼ cup olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 large carrot, peeled & diced
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup cream
1 ripe avocado
2 oz. basil pesto
2 thick slices of sour dough or farmer loaf bread
½ cup olive oil

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Heat oil in a shallow ovenproof casserole, add onion garlic & carrots and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes
3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and sugar, and season well with salt and pepper.
4. Roast uncovered in oven for 20 minutes, then allow mixture to cool.
5. Puree in a blender, adding a little of the stock if the mixture is too thick.
6. Return to pan and add remaining stock and cream.
7. Bring to the boil, add pesto and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8. Check seasoning

To make the Croutons:
Dice the bread into small ½ cm cubes, place 1/ 2 cup olive oil in pan and heat up, add diced bread cubes, and cook till golden brown, tossing regularly to evenly cook, drain and place in bowl until ready to serve.

To serve soup, spoon hot soup into soup bowl, top with slices of fresh avocado some of the toasted crouton, and drizzle with pesto.

Found via Inside Out blog