Tomatoe's and Basil

So I got some really awesome grape and cherry tomatoes at the market yesterday and couldn't wait to make yummy things with them. So today for lunch I made myself a caprese salad, and dinner was tomato basil soup, so awesome.

Here's hows they're both done

mini caprese salad

this ones super easy and so fresh and tastey

all you need is grape or cherry tomatoes halved, bocconcini (mini balls of buffalo mozzarella), fresh basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.
I just cut up the bocconcini and tomatoes so they are roughly the same sizes and then rip or chop basil into the same size as the cheese and tomatoes. put them all together and drizzle with olive oil (make sure its a good quality olive oil) salt and pepper and that's it!

Tomato Basil Soup

For this one you'll need cherry and grape tomatoes (you could use just one or the other), one can of diced tomatoes, one small can tomato paste, butter, crushed garlic, sugar, 2 bay leaves, dried basil, dried tarragon, sour cream( I use light), and fresh basil.

First melt butter in a large sauce pan or pot, add crushed garlic and let simmer for a few minutes. add tomato paste and simmer for a few more minutes. Cut cherry tomatoes and add. Add the grape tomatoes and diced tomatoes. Add a good sized pinch of tarragon and basil (dried) and bay leaves, salt and pepper. Simmer all together on medium heat until the tomatoes have broken down a fair amount. Remove bay leave and add about a cup of sour cream and about 3-4 tbsp sugar. Mix all together and then blend either in a food processor, blender or like I did use a hand blender. Add a good handful of chopped fresh basil just a few minutes before your going to serve. Then you can garnish with a bit of sour cream and a few fresh basil leaves if you like.

Its so good, Matt and my brother both downed a great big bowl.

We ate it along side panko dill crusted tilapia, brussle sprouts with lemon and dill and fried mushrooms and zucchini. It was an awesome dinner.

Oh how I love you tomatoes. I cant wait until I can grab lots of fresh tomatoes from my garden whenever I want.