This soup has a bit of a mixed beginning and heritage. I have always loved tomato soup. While living in the UK, I discovered a whole variety of other soup flavours on sale, compared to the tried and true flavours we see all the time in Australia.

One favourite tinned soup was in fact a tomato and orange soup. It caught my eye for never having thought of the two together and I wasn’t sure if I was horrified, or intrigued. I bought it anyway, and I have never looked back. The two flavours go well together in a hot soup with the orange breaking up the thickness of the tomato, while it in turn cuts through the syrupiness of orange juice. It was a flavour hit.

Next on my taste test was a carrot, parsnip and ginger soup, and for a while it overtook tomato soup as my favourite soup of all time. Warming, fresh, zingy, with a bit of bite, it really had me coming back for more in those cold winters.

Fast forward to present day Sydney, and I had been gifted a bounty of fresh, organic oranges from a friend’s tree (and I’m talking a bounty – there must have been a whole tree’s worth of oranges in the bags she brought me! I know she’ll read this, so thank you again for the orange beauties, and for the obligatory typo check for me!)

I was ready for soup. I wanted tomato and orange soup. But I wanted some warming quality. And I wanted a freshness to it. So I combined the two soups to create this fresh, popping, zingy winter warmer which my cousin has dubbed just from the sound of it a ‘party in the mouth’. I can attest to that having devoured the whole batch of the soup (over a number of days, I might add) and never having gotten fed up of it. The only thing that could’ve improved it for me would’ve been fresh coriander sprinkled on top to serve.

So, without further ado, I bring you the (so simple it’s crazy) method for this tasty soup.

Ingredients

• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1 thumb-sized chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 800g can chopped tomatoes undrained, or 6 fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can full of water extra
• juice of 2 oranges
• 1 cup Vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper to taste
• A squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
• Parsley or coriander, finely chopped, for garnish
• Coconut yoghurt soured with a touch of lemon juice, to serve

Method

1. Sauté onions in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic.
2. Puree the carrots in one cup of water, then add this to the onions and garlic.
3. Add in the chopped ginger and the full can of tomatoes (including liquid) and an extra can full of water. Stir, then add in the stock.
4. Cook for 20 minutes, then add in the orange juice and cook for a further 10-15 minutes. You can have pulp in your juice as it will all be blended after cooking.
5. Once cooking time is up, taste test for full flavour development. Add a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired, for extra zing. Then either blitz with a stick mixture in the pot, or small batch the soup into a blender. Blend until smooth.
6. Serve with a dollop of soured coconut yoghurt and/or a sprinkling of parsley or coriander. For ultimate comfort food status, serve with hot buttered (gluten free) toast cut into soldiers for dipping in your soup.