Hello,
I'm cold to my bones. It's mid June and I am wearing my biggest thickest jumper (a babaa gift since you asked). Its not ok.
I've been sitting at my desk doing a lot of writing this week and I have been craving food to warm my bones. Soup. But I've also wanted to eat to summon summer in. If we eat like it's summer it has to come around soon. I hope.
This spiced tomato soup, with jalapeno and lemon flatbread toasties, is where eating for summer and craving warmth meet. Where tomato season and soup season collide.
This soup is one I make all year. Most often it's made with good tinned tomatoes but this week I made it with half tinned and half fresh (you can watch me make it here) and it was light and bright and warming all at once. I'll make it with just fresh tomatoes next time. It's got cumin seeds, coriander seeds and harrissa, which bring, depth, punch and lemony zip. Don't skip them.
But really the soup is a vehicle for these flatbread toasties. Grated cheddar, pickled jalapenos and lemon. I used lemon zest this week, but you could use chopped preserved lemon, layered with oil and zatar between two flatbreads, toasted in a pan until crips and golden. This cheese, green chilli, lemon flavour combination has become a new obsession of mine. It's popping up in so much of my cooking. If you don't have flatbread, bread will do fine too.
Make this. Feel warm and feel like summer is close. Nearly there, edging towards us. Please come summer, we need you.
With love,
Anna x
Spiced tomato soup with lemon and herb flatbreads
Serves 4
5 tablespoons olive oil
3 onions, peeled and finely chopped
4 sticks of celery, finely chopped 2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
2–4 tablespoons harissa paste (depending on heat)
2 × 400g tins cherry tomatoes
800ml hot vegetable stock (made with 1 teaspoon bouillon powder or 1⁄2 a stock cube)
200g mature Cheddar or vegan Cheddar-style cheese, grated
50g feta or vegan feta-style cheese
2 preserved lemons, flesh discarded, skin roughly chopped
50g pickled green chillies, roughly chopped
a bunch of parsley (15g), chopped
a small bunch of mint (15g), chopped
a small bunch of dill (15g), chopped
4 large fluffy Turkish flatbreads
4 tablespoons za’atar
Start the soup
Add 3 tablespoons olive oil to a medium saucepan along with 3 peeled and finely chopped onions, 4 finely chopped sticks of celery, 2 peeled and finely chopped carrots, and 6 peeled and finely chopped cloves of garlic and fry the lot over a medium-low heat for 15–20 minutes, stirring every so often, until soft and sweet but not browned. You will need to adjust the heat as you go and perhaps add a little more oil or even a splash of water if it’s beginning to catch.
Add the spices
Once the vegetables have softened, add 1 tablespoon cumin seeds,1 tablespoon coriander seeds, and 2–3 tablespoons harissa paste and stir to toast for a minute. Add 2 × 400g tins of cherry tomatoes and their juice, then 800ml hot vegetable stock. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.
Make the flatbread filling
Grate 200g mature Cheddar cheese or vegan Cheddar-style cheese into a mixing bowl then crumble in 50g feta or vegan feta cheese. Add the skin of 2 roughly chopped preserved lemons and 50g chopped pickled green chillies. Mix in small bunches of chopped parsley, mint and dill. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed.
Bake the flatbreads
Preheat the oven to 240°C/220°C fan. Place the flatbreads on a baking tray and drizzle one side with oil and a little za’atar. Flip the flatbreads over on to the unoiled side, pile the filling on to one of the flatbreads and spread evenly, then sprinkle over some more za’atar. Place the other flatbread on top of the filling – oiled side up – then place in the oven for 10 minutes so the cheese melts and the flatbread toasts. If you are using 4 flatbreads you will need to divide the filling accordingly.
Blend the soup
While the flatbreads are in the oven, use a hand-held blender to blend the tomato mixture until you have a creamy soup. Keep it warm on a low heat. Taste and season with more salt if needed.
Serve the soup and flatbreads
Take the flatbreads out of the oven, slide on to a large chopping board and carefully slice up and serve alongside the soup.
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