HOLTWHITES' TOMATO & SOURDOUGH SOUP

 

You’ll often find this on the soup menu at Holtwhites Bakery's, taken from Yotam Ottolenghi's book Jerusalem, they often serve it in the bakery at lunchtime, especially in the summer. It's a kind of warm gazpacho with a Middle Eastern hit. It’s ridiculourly simple to make and a good way of using up sourdough leftovers.

Another good tip for using up staler bits of sourdough is to make croutons. Tear the bread up and place on a roasting tray in the oven on a very low heat, or residual heat after cooking) and bake until completely dry. You could add some seasoning and spices if you want to while you bake it, but Chase Sourdough is so tasty I don’t think you need anything on it.

Float the sourdough croutons in the soup or add to salads and what you don’t use store in an airtight container for later.

 

Tomato & Sourdough Soup

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 garlic cloves, crushed
750ml vegetable stock
4 large ripe tomatoes, chopped
400ml tin good quality chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 slice sourdough bread
2 tbsp chopped coriander, plus extra to finish
Salt and black pepper

To Prepare:

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan, add the onion and sauté, stirring often, for five minutes, until translucent.

Add the cumin and garlic, and fry for two minutes, then add the stock, both fresh and tinned tomatoes, sugar, a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper.

Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, adding the bread halfway through. Add the coriander, then pulse-blitz the soup a few times to break down the tomatoes a bit – you want them a little coarse and chunky.

(This soup should be quite thick, but add a little water to thin it down if you prefer.) Serve drizzled with oil and garnished with fresh coriander.

 

PANZANELLA

The Food Gatherer's Note: This traditional Italian recipe can be a bit divisive. Some love the clash of sweet tomatoes and peppers with the saltiness of capers and anchovies and the acidity of the vinegar in this classic peasant dish that was designed with the pure intention of using up stale bread. Others loathe it, I admit vinegary stale bread doesn't sound most appealing, but personally I love the flavours and I enjoy the thrill of creating something so flavoursome out of bread that's past its best. I would use a jar of roasted peppers for ease. 

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THAI COCONUT, COURGETTE AND CHICKEN SOUP

The Food Gatherer's Note: A gorgeous summery aromatic Thai style soup using seasonal courgettes along with free range chicken.  I use thigh (ask for the joints to be de-boned when you check out in the notes section) but you may prefer chicken breast - it's all a matter of preference! You can also add noodles in the last few minutes of cooking time to make the soup more substantial and if you want to make things easy for yourself midweek then cook off the chicken in a thai curry paste instead of creating your own as in the recipe before adding the rest of the soup, juts add some slices of ginger along with the lemongrass and fish out later.

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