Again we’ve been a touch busy, so here is our recipe for Tomato & Basil consomme, well actually the base of it is Gordon Ramsay’s which we’ve tweeked. Then after watching the culinary alchemist that is Heston Blumenthal, we realised that the recipe could be improved by applying some of Mr Blumenthal’s thinking. We’ve added the vines from our vine tomatoes to the stock base, the thinking behind this is the smell. As many of you will know, when you enter a greenhouse with tomatoes growing in it there is a distinctive smell of tomatoes. Mr Blumenthal discovered that the smell is actually the vines the tomatoes grow on, not the tomatoes themselves.
So here it is, enjoy.
Tomato & Basil Consomme
- 8 Shallots, chopped
- 4kg Plum vine tomatoes, over ripe & the vines included
- 5 Tsp Salt
- 5 Tsp Sugar
- 5 Tsp Basil, chopped
- 5 Tsp Tarragon, chopped
- 4L Cold water
Sweat shallots over a medium heat for 5-6 mins (start to colour), add tomatoes & stew for a further 10mins. Stir in salt, sugar & herbs. Add cold water, bring to the boil, skim and simmer for 15 mins.
Pass through muslin and cool.
Tomato clarification:
- Tarragon & basil stalks
- 15 Egg whites
- 10 White peppercorns
- 10 Black peppercorns
- 1kg Over ripe tomatoes & the vines
Liquidise all the ingredients then add to the cold stock. Slowly bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer for about 15 mins, then pass through muslin.
var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24672972-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();