Extremely Low Fat Roasted Tomato & Basil Soup

After what was an extremely indulgent weekend in Dublin for the Take That concert, I need to shock the body back into healthy eating! This soup is very low in fat, but by roasting the tomatoes first, you are getting a much more intense flavour from the tomatoes. Also by roasting the garlic in their skins, a sweet mellow flavour is created. This,coupled with the fresh and dried herbs, makes a really tasty soup, so you aren’t longing for that potato in there as much, or cream!!!!!!!

As my physio has me on a training ban for at least another week, the recipes for the next week will be extremely low in fat, as working off food is not an option.

But fear not, I’ll be doing my best to pack extra flavours into meals through spices and herbs. This soup can be kept in the fridge for up to three days.

Ingredients

• 6 ripe tomatoes
• 500ml of vegetable/chicken stock
• 1 tbsp of tomato puree
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 celery sticks, diced finely
• 1 onion, diced finely
• 1 tbsp thyme leaves
• 2 finely chopped carrots
• Good handful of torn basil leaves
• Salt & pepper
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 1 bay leaf

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
2. Cut the tomatoes in half and place on roasting tray, cut side up.
3. Spray with low fat cooking oil, season well and sprinkle with the oregano. Place the garlic cloves (in their skin) on the roasting tray also
4. Roast for 20 mins
5. Meanwhile in a sauce pan, sauté the onion, celery and carrot in a few sprays of low fat cooking oil and the thyme leaves.
6. Sprinkle with a little salt to prevent them browning
7. After 7-10 minutes, once soft, add the stock and the bay leaf
8. Add the roast tomatoes also and sqeeze the garlic out of its skin and put it into the broth also.
9. Bring the mixture to a boil and then back to a simmer
10. With a hand held blender, whizz up the soup and season well again and add the torn basil leaves.

To make this a heartier soup, you could add some red lentils, or cannellini beans, or cook some broken up spaghetti in the soup. But as this is Extremely low fat version, so we’re sticking with the veggies only.