Recipe: Tomato and Gordon’s Gin Soup

I’ve never been much of a fan of gin, I’ll admit. So when the lovely people of Gordon’s asked if I wanted to participate in their latest blogger outreach campaign*, my first instinct was to say that it wasn’t for me.

(The pitch was that you can enjoy Gordon’s on Friday nights with friends, etc. Feel free to read about it here, though I suspect that if you like gin, any night of the week is good for drinking it. Ha.)

But I digress. Anyway, I thought, ‘Who’s to say I couldn’t find a way to like gin? I wonder if people cook with it?’

The answer is YES. A thousand times YES.

I Google ‘gin recipe’ and came across mostly a version of Tomato Soup. I decided to try this one I found on Running with Tweezers who found it on For The Love of Food. The original recipe is on both of those sites, but I did a little tweaking, which is what you’ll find below.

Tomato and Gordon’s Gin Soup – serves 4

• 1 kg (2 Lbs)Tomatoes, diced
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon basil, dried
• 1 tablespoon oregano, dried
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme, dried
• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary, dried and ground
• 750ml (3 Cups) of beef stock
• 2 Tablespoons Tomato Paste
• 200ml Gordon’s gin
• Coarse sea salt
• Ground pepper
• 4 tablespoons fresh goat cheese
• 4 teaspoons basil pesto
• Fresh basil (garnish)

1. In a large pot sauté the onions and garlic in the vegetable oil until the onions are soft
2. Add the tomatoes and all the dried spices and cook in the pot for 15 minutes with the lid on

3. Then pour in the beef stock and let cook for another 5 minutes
4. Take off the heat and put entire soup into a food processor or blender and purée. I used a hand blender which worked just as well (and less mess!)

5. Return pot to medium heat and add the tomato paste and the gin. Stir until completely mixed in
6. Garnish with a teaspoon of goat cheese, fresh basil and a dollop of pesto

This is seriously some of the best soup I’ve ever had in my life. It was so easy to make too. I highly recommend you give it a whirl.  And at least I now know what to do with the rest of the gin!

*And full disclosure and all – I wasn’t paid for this post (not my style), but I did receive that bottle of gin pictured at the top, as well as a Gordon (get it?) Ramsey cookbook, which I’ve yet to try.