Bloody Mary Soup

This weekend we had a couple of friends to stay. Also in the industry, I knew of our shared love for fine booze and so decided to whip up a Bloody Mary style soup - complete with real voddy! It was delicious - a real treat. Spicy, peppery, tomatoey and just topped off nicely with a little kick from the vodka, I used Vestal - made with potatoes harvested in the Kaszebe region in northern Poland, this has a stunningly rich creaminess and has a glorious depth of flavour.

Bloody Mary Soup

FOR THE SOUP
1.5kg tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, peeled
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, roughly diced
3 fresh red chillis (or to taste), roughly sliced
4 sticks celery, roughly diced
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly diced
450ml good chicken stock
3 sprigs curly parsley
Vodka
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 tablespoons crème fraiche

This was souper easy to make (apologies for the awful dad joke but it had to be done!). Pop all of the tomatoes and the garlic in a roasting tray and add to the oven at around 180 degrees. In a large pan on a medium heat, brown the onions, then add the celery, carrots and chilli. Once the veg in the pan softens add the chicken stock, remove the tomatoes and garlic from the oven and throw into the pan. Simmer this all down for a good 20 minutes and leave to one side to cool. Hollow out a round granary loaf and pop a few hunks of the hollowed out bread into the soup (this gives a lovely thick creaminess to the soup once blitzed). Add in the parsley, season to taste and transfer to a blender for blizting. Ladle into your hollowed out bread bowl to serve and garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche and a leaf of parsely. Boom.