Cold tomato soup : the taste of summer

Today I want to share with you a really easy recipe for summer days . I have to admit : I don't like so much gazpacho , it's very difficult to obtain the right balance between all the ingredients and the vinegar . Then I saw many recipes of tomato soups but I really wanted tofind  the pure taste of it so I tried once to make it very very simple and people told me it was amazing . Naturally you'll have to choose best quality ingredients . That's the difficult side of simple cooking ( not so simple....)

As you can see in the photos the color will change with the differents quality of tomatoes you use

You can serve it in small portions  for a cocktail  or bigger as a starter . Here in Provence we have tomatoes in so many different colors that I like to play with . My preferred for this recipe is the one called 'Ananas' : a bouncing , luxurious orange one with shades of red . The pulp is thick and sweet and the soup you'll obtain seems like mellon : what a surprise then for your guests when they discover a pure tomato savor ! You can see it in tthe photo below ( beet was for another recipe)

Velvety tomato soup

For 8 people (small portions for cocktail , as a starter makes for 4)

1 kg of ripe tomatoes like ‘Beef-heart’

3 tablespoons of very good extra-virgin olive oil

A bunch of basil

A pinch of chilli ( if you can find Piment d’espelette in some

French grocery it would be fine )

1 tablespoon of salt

Put a large pan full of water to boil , make a cross with a knife on the top of tomatoes , throw them into boiling water and leave some minutes till you see the skin begins to raise ,then take them out with a slotted spoon and peel them ( wait a while ,they are burning !) . Put them in a bowl while peeling , to keep the juice. Then assemble all the ingredients in a mixer , or use an immersion mixer otherwise , and mix very well till the soup becomes velvety . It’s the reaction between the water contained on tomatoes and the oil that gives that ‘smooth’ sensation. About the salt : don’t put  all , taste after you’ve mixed as the quantity depends so much of the quality of tomatoes you use.