Tomato Soup with poached Chicken, Croutons & Basil Oil
Our teenager Jemima is our wild child. She is out there in every way, but maybe my easiest eater, as she’ll pretty much eat anything as long as it’s delicious!
She ate well from an early age, but now my focus is keeping her healthy into her hormone raging teenage years. This, I will confess, can be a struggle. I know Jemima eats well at home, but when she’s with her mates, all bets are off. I
’m learning that I can’t control everything she’s eating and it’s time for her to make her own decisions. I live in hope that once we all come through the tough teenage years she’ll ask me to teach her how to make all the delicious meals she’s grown up loving!
- 2 kilos of tomatoes. I prefer heirloom varieties or really over ripe tomatoes as I believe they impart the best flavour.
- 1 onion, peeled and roughly sliced
- 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled
- A handful of sage leaves, washed
- A sprig or two of rosemary
- 50g butter, melted
- Himalayan seat salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- A sprinkle of chilli flakes
- 1L of Love and Bones Broth
- 1 small pastured chicken thigh (for poaching)
- A dollop of whole cream (for serving)
FOR THE BASIL OIL
- 1 bunch of basil, leaves washed
- Lemon juice
- Good quality olive oil
FOR THE CROUTONS
- A loaf of day old sourdough bread or good quality gluten free bread from whole green bakery or Nonie's.
- 50g of butter
COOK IT:
Wash and chop the tomatoes into halves and quarters depending on their size. If using cherry tomatoes just slice them through the middle. Place tomatoes in a deep baking dish. Next, toss through the chopped onion, garlic, sage leaves, rosemary, salt, pepper and chilli.
Finally pour the melted butter over the tomatoes and bake in the oven at 150 degrees celsius for an hour and a half.
Once cooked add to a saucepan with a litre of Love and Bones Broth. Or you can make a base broth that I mentioned how to make in Wilco’s dinner last week.
Once the chicken is cooked and the soup has simmered, remove rosemary stalks before passing it through a fine sieve. Alternatively you can blend it first if that makes it easier to pass through your sieve. We also sell this soup as our Red + Love and Bones Broth to make life extra easy!
Now you can add your chicken thigh. Finely poach a small pastured chicken thigh (skin removed) in the tomato broth until the chicken falls to pieces. This will take approximately 20 minutes with the lid on so the soup doesn’t evaporate. Pull it apart with two forks and portion into bowls.
For the basil oil
While the chicken is poaching it’s time to make your basil oil. Combine a couple of handfuls of washed basil leaves with a squeeze of lemon (to stop oxidisation) and your best olive oil to make a deep green oil for drizzling onto your soup at the end.
Blitz these ingredients in a small food processor or hand held one, or even a mortar and pestle. The result should be super green oil that is zingy and delicious.
For the croutons
Cut up some day old bread into cubes (we personally like an Iggy’s bagel). Melt 50g of butter in a small pot, season it with salt, pepper and a tiny pinch of chilli.
Mix the bread around in the melted butter and then fry until golden in a small skillet. Set aside, these are to be served with your soup.
To Serve
Simply ladle soup with chicken into bowls, put a little whole cream (or coconut cream) into your soup and stir slightly before drizzling the green oil into the bowl. Add the croutons as you wish – Jemima likes them with each mouthful.
Recipe and photos by Michelle Schoeps @brothlady 2021 Full article on The Design Files