Tomato soup with basil

Ingredients

• olive oil - 1 tbsp. l.
• coarse salt - 2 tsp
• celery - 1 stalk
• bay leaf (small) - 2 pcs.
• water or broth from fresh vegetables - 500 ml
• basil - 1 bunch
• ripe hard tomatoes - 1 kg
• dried thyme - pinch
• garlic - 4 cloves
• onion - 1 onion

Cooking

Step 1

Cut the tomatoes and onion into 4 pieces, and the garlic cloves in half. Chop the celery stalk, chop the basil leaves.

Step 2

Place all the prepared ingredients, except for the basil, in a saucepan, pour in the broth, add the bay leaf, thyme and bring to a boil, salt to taste. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes without a lid. Take out the onion and bay leaf.

Step 3

Rub the remaining vegetables in the broth through a sieve or grind in a blender. Mix vegetable puree with broth, check if there is enough salt, and, if necessary, add more salt.

Step 4

To enhance the taste, it is better to bake the tomatoes before cooking the soup under the grill cover on a sheet of foil - 30-40 minutes on low coals. In this case, the amount of liquid will need to be increased, and the tomatoes cut in half.

Step 5

Serve hot or cold, sprinkled with chopped basil.