- Prep time
- 10
- Cook time
- 45
- Skill level
- Medium
- Serves
- 4-6
Tomato soup served with an oozy cheese toasty is one of our favourite family meals.
Cheese and tomato is, of course, a reliable food pairing, and one that brings much comfort. Dipping hot cheesy bread into tomato soup is one of life's simple pleasures.
During winter, when fresh juicy tomatoes aren't available, I turn to (arguably) the world's most essential pantry item — canned tomatoes — to create a deeply flavoursome soup.
While fresh tomatoes taste floral or fruity, canned tomatoes have already been cooked a little, so possess a jammy, sweeter finish.
For this recipe, I've used smokiness to amplify the complexity of umami-rich tomatoes, achieved by the clever use of spices with lower and slower cooking times.
Each ingredient is cooked in order to release its flavours to the fullest, before the next addition.
The irresistible cheese and spring onion dumplings transform this soup into a one-pot meal, bringing extra heartiness and comfort.
These dumplings are roughly shaped into balls and dropped into the soup, where they puff and steam, emerging swollen with smoky tomato flavours, and a feather-light crumb. It's important to use a pot that is wide enough to hold all the dumplings as they swell dramatically during cooking.
Every month, we publish a new recipe from our New Australian Classics series. Hetty McKinnon is a food writer and cookbook author with a passion for vegetables. She’s the author of three cookbooks, Community, Neighbourhood, and Family. Originally from Sydney, Hetty is currently living with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
Love ABC Everyday recipes?
Have them delivered to your inbox each week
Ingredients
Method
- 1.Heat a large wide pot or Dutch oven on medium-low. When hot, add 60ml (1/4 cup) of olive oil along with the onion and cook for 6-8 minutes until soft. Add the garlic, rosemary, tomato paste and stir for 2-3 minutes until fragrant and the paste begins to caramelise. Add the tomatoes (without the juice) along with paprika and chilli flakes and cook for 5-7 minutes on medium-low heat, leaving it to cook for intervals of 1-2 minutes before stirring to encourage the tomatoes to caramelise. Pour in the stock and parmesan rind if using, cover and cook for 15 minutes on low heat.
- 2.Meanwhile, make the dumplings by combining the flour, baking powder, salt and a good grind of black pepper in a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips, until the mixture is coarse and sandy (no need to break up the butter too much). Stir in cheese and spring onions and combine well. Beat the egg with the milk and pour into the flour mixture. Stir until just combined.
- 3.Remove the parmesan rind from the soup and discard. Blend it until it is smooth, using a stick blender or in a food processor.
- 4.Using a large tablespoon or ice cream scoop, very gently drop balls of the dough, about the size of a golf ball, into the soup. They will expand greatly during cooking so space them apart. Cover and cook on medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes. Try not to open the lid during cooking as the steam helps the dumplings puff up. Insert a toothpick or bamboo skewer to check that the dumplings are cooked through. It should come out relatively clean, a few crumbs are OK, but it shouldn't be gooey. If they're not ready yet, pop the lid back on and cook for another 3-5 minutes.
- 5.To serve, ladle the soup with a dumpling or two into a serving bowl. Top with a drizzle of olive oil, and scatter with extra cheese and spring onions. If you have any leftovers, reheat the dumplings and the soup separately, to avoid overcooking the dumplings.