Roasted tomato soup with cheddar dumplings

Name: Roasted tomato soup with cheddar dumplings
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Ingredients: 1kg tomatoes, ripe; 1 onion, peeled and diced; 1 carrot, peeled and diced; 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 1 bunch of basil, small, separated into leaves and stalks; 600ml of vegetable stock; mature cheddar, grated; olive oil; 2 slices of bread, crumbled, or approximately 55g of breadcrumbs; 3 eggs, beaten; 55g of mature cheddar; salt; black pepper

by Monica Shaw

Item 1 of 1

Main
easy
serves 4
1 hour 45 minutes

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

5.00

Monica Shaw turns to her mum's trusted recipe for cheddar cheese dumplings to give a deliciously moreish twist to the classic tomato soup and cheese combination.

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The tomato season is drawing to a close while cooler weather and shorter days seem to closing in at an alarming speed. This time of year, I like to use the last of the tomatoes to make a big batch of warming tomato soup which I freeze in batches for a little hit of summer (and an easy lunch) on cool autumn days.

Roasted tomato soup on its own is a treasure, but you can really make this true comfort food by adding one of tomato soup’s best compliments: cheddar cheese. You could stir the cheese right into the soup, or go for the classic pairing of grilled cheese, delicious when dipped right into the soup. For my tomato soup, I like to pull out the family recipe book and make something my mom has been making for us since we were kids: Cheddar cheese dumplings.

These dumplings are extremely easy to make, requiring just three ingredients (plus salt and pepper) that get mixed together in a bowl and spooned into the warm soup, ready in just 10 minutes. Back in the day, we used from-the-can Campbell’s Tomato Soup (jazzed up with fresh tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce and grated cheese), but now that I grow my own tomatoes (and am wary of the salt and preservatives in tinned food), I tend to make my own tomato soup.

Feel free to use whatever bread you wish for the breadcrumbs - I tend to go for wholemeal breadcrumbs but white works just as well and sourdough is absolutely dreamy.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Roasted tomato soup

1kg tomatoes, ripe
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 bunch of basil, small, separated into leaves and stalks
600ml of vegetable stock
mature cheddar, grated
olive oil

Dumplings

2 slices of bread, crumbled, or approximately 55g of breadcrumbs
3 eggs, beaten
55g of mature cheddar
salt
black pepper

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Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/gas mark 5

Cut the tomatoes in half and arrange cut-side up in a baking dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper

Bake for approximately 1 hour, until the tomatoes are totally soft and beginning to char around the edges

Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and add the onion, carrot and garlic. Cook for approximately 7 minutes until softened. Meanwhile, chop the basil stalks and addd to the pan. Cook for another minute

Add the roasted tomatoes (including any juices that seeped out) to the pan along with the vegetable stock. Stir, bring to the boil, then turn the heat down. Cover and leave to simmer for about 10-20 minutes (until the carrots are very soft)

Blitz the soup in a blender then return to the pan and gently reheat

Meanwhile, make the dumplings by mixing together all of the ingredients - you should have a moist doughy mix that’s easy to shape into small balls (about the size of a teaspoon)