Gordon Ramsay's Searing Tip For The Most Delicious Tomato Soup

Gordon Ramsay's roasted creamy tomato soup is perfection in a bowl. What makes it so delicious? Ramsay revealed in a video that to achieve a rich spoonful of homemade tomato soup worthy of your taste buds, you need to start by searing your tomatoes. Ramsay does his right on the stovetop in the roasting pan he will use in the oven to roast the tomatoes, in a generous slug of olive oil. He also includes red onions and garlic in the sear, too. Searing on a high heat is the crucial step that is going to begin the process of creating layers of flavors, similar to how you would sear a piece of meat before roasting. The skin becomes caramelized by this quick heat, concentrating sugars even before you pop the tomatoes into the oven to roast. 

Choose tomatoes at their peak ripeness for your roasted tomato soup so they will be at their sweetest. When you are searing them, it is important not to crowd. You want all of the beefy tomato flesh to be exposed to heat and get a little bit of a char. It is at this point that Ramsay adds some sugar to amplify the sweetness, as well as some balsamic vinegar for a silky acidity, and a little cayenne pepper for a spicy kick.

Roasting is the next step to Ramsay's soup, and of course, roasting any vegetable makes them sweeter, and while tomatoes teeter closer to being a fruit, the same is true for them. When you roast your ruby reds, along with the garlic and red onions, the sugars become deeper and more intense, creating a truly rich tomato flavor that is going to create a memorable final taste. To get them just right, it will take about 25 minutes in the oven, only to be pulled back out and placed on the stovetop to make the soup. 

When you sear and roast your tomatoes, consider the pan you want to use to achieve these beautiful levels of flavor. You want to choose wisely and starting the process in a cast iron pan or stainless steel pan is a good move because of the ease of going from stovetop to oven. Of course, you can simply scrape all of the contents of the roasting dish into a saucepan on the hob, to add the liquid for the roasted tomato soup. Just make sure you get every last bit.