Again, this year I’ve tried to grow a number of items in the greenhouse and little vegetable patch I’ve created…..and yet again I’ve failed miserably. Every year I start with great intentions and every year I do not give it my full focus sadly. Each year I look back and I think exactly like my school report read….must try harder!!

We had a number of tomatoes, chillis and pepper and sadly that was that. Other than rhubarb which looks after itself it’s been quite disappointing again.

What better way to treat these veggies to a recipe from Gary Rhodes. I grew up watching Gary dazzle us on tv. He was years ahead of anyone else around. I remember him featuring on Keith Floyd as a young chef working in Taunton. This book is amazing. So many good recipes it’s unreal. On his passing on a tv show to talk about his life it came out that quite a number of the top chefs went out and purchased it to pick up some of Gary’s tips. And so they should!!

If you haven’t got this book in your collection I would certainly recommend it.

Cherry tomato soup – ingredients- olive oil, two red onions, 2 garlic cloves ( crushed), 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, 500g of tomatoes, 300ml of passata, 450ml of vegetable stock plus salt and pepper.

Method- heat a large pan with the olive oil. Add the red onion and garlic and gently fry until softened.

Add the red wine vinegar allowing this to come to a boil until it’s almost gone.

Add the tomatoes and continue to fry for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes the tomatoes start to break down. Add the passata again bringing to a simmer for 10 minutes.

As the dish comes together season with black pepper and salt.

A final garnish I added a touch of fresh basil.

Perfect. Thank you for reading.