Cut the tomatoes and onion into 4 pieces, and the garlic cloves in half. Chop the celery stalk, chop the basil leaves.
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.
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.
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.
Serve hot or cold, sprinkled with chopped basil.