The Copycat Chef: Raw Tomato Soup With Garlic Croutons

This recipe is based on Nigella Lawson’s Spaghetti al Sugo Crudo from her excellent summer house cookbook, Forever Summer. Spaghetti made with fresh uncooked tomatoes and garlic is delicious when tomatoes are in season—though the sauce gets watery if you let the tomatoes sit too long. This never stopped me from slurping up the leftovers with a spoon, however, so I thought: why not make the whole thing a soup?

The result is pretty insane, like intense Sicilian sunshine in a bowl. The ingredients may be rustic, but the finished product looks and tastes quite sophisticated. (Serve it in smaller portions as an amuse bouche.) The soup can be frozen for the winter months, when you’re really craving that dose of sunshine.

Recipe: Raw Tomato Soup With Garlic Croutons

3 lbs. fresh, local farmstand/greenmarket tomatoes
2 large cloves garlic
½ c. extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt
1 small handful fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces
French bread or boule, slightly stale but still malleable

Bring a small pot of water to boil. Cut a shallow x-mark on the bottom of each tomato, and put them in for 15 seconds, one at a time, remove and let cool. Peel off the skin.

Set a fine mesh strainer over a large non-reactive bowl. Slice each tomato into 8 wedges and, working over the strainer, dig out the seeds with your fingers and let the juice trickle into the bowl. Roughly chop the seeded wedges and add them to the bowl.

Swirl the seeds and pulp around in the strainer over the large bowl with the back of your hand until you’ve extracted all the remaining juice. Discard seeds and pulp.

Smash 1 garlic clove with the side of a knife, peel, and add to the bowl. Add the basil, olive oil, and 1 tsp. sea salt and stir. Cover the bowl loosely, and let sit 6 hours at room temperature. (You can also make this up to a day ahead of time and let sit in the fridge.)

When ready to serve, decant the tomato mixture through the fine mesh sieve into smaller bowl, working in batches. Knead the tomato wedges with your hands over the strainer, working out as much of the juice as possible. You can even press some of the tomatoes through the strainer for a thicker texture. Discard remaining solids. You can freeze the soup at this point.

Cut enough bread into 1-inch cubes to yield about a cup of cubed bread. Preheat the broiler to low. Carefully toast the croutons on a cookie sheet, keeping the oven door ajar and turning them once with a long wooden spoon. Remove the toasted croutons, and as soon as they are cool enough to handle, rub them all with remaining peeled garlic clove.

Add 1 tsp. best-quality sea salt to the soup, which should be at room temperature, and whisk vigorously. Pour the soup into bowls, garnish with garlic croutons, and serve.

Serves 4-6.

Union Square Greenmarket sources: Tomatoes from Migliorelli.