Bonjour mes amis, aujourd’hui nous faisons une soupe de tomates inspirée par un jardin d’herbes françaises.

It is actually a tomato and tarragon soup but the French word for tarragon is “estragon” which I kept reading as “oestrogen”.  That’s not generally an ingredient I want in my soup so we’ll keep it English!

It also seems to be a particularly French time of year, Bastille Day just, gone, the World Cup victory and the Tour De France.  And of course, nothing says celebrate like soup right?   Don’t answer that.

Whatever, this soup is super! 😏

Back in the summer,  I grew both tarragon and tomatoes in the backyard.  But it wasn’t until late in the season after the tomatoes had finished that I came across this recipe for tomato and tarragon soup. I had never heard of that combination before – tomatoes and basil?  Definitely.  Chives – most certainly.  Parsley – why not?  But tarragon?  Not so much.

Since then, I have learned that they are both ingredients in a Sauce Choron which is a tomato flavoured Bearnaise sauce.  The only comment I have to make about that is “What took me so long?”  Next summer, Salmon with Sauce Choron will be featuring on the menu but for the meantime as the cold of winter sets in, I will remind myself about the joys of summer produce by remembering how good this soup was!

The tarragon here is homegrown even if the tomatoes are not.

This was a lovely soup; light and very fresh.  It tasted of summer!  The recipe came from a book called Recipes From a French Herb Garden by Geraldene Holt.

Next month, I am heading to France.  On my travels, I will be visiting the Ville Rose (Toulouse).  And then on to Bordeaux.  Where I definitely will not be sampling any of the local wines!!!!  😉 Given it will be the height of summer when I am there, I wonder if there will be a tomato and tarragon soup on the menu anywhere?

This was a lovely soup; light and very fresh.  It tasted of summer! It is so cold and miserable here in Melbourne at the moment but even looking at these photos brought back memories of warmer days and anticipation of the warm weather ahead in Europe!

I served the soup with a sun-dried tomato bread which I feel is a very 90’s adaptation of the Spanish Pan con Tomate where bread is rubbed with olive oil, garlic and tomatoes.  In this version, I chopped up some sun dried tomatoes, some garlic, added some finely chopped basil and a little bit more tarragon and mixed these through some butter.  I then spread this onto some rustic, toasted bread and popped it under the grill until golden.

Teamed with the soup it was a double delight of tomato-ishness.  And tarragon-yness

Here is the recipe for the soup:

And the bread:

Sun Dried Tomato Bread

Print Recipe

Delicious herby, garlicy, tomatoy bread, perfect for dunking into soup!

• Author: Taryn Fryer

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 2 slices of rustic style bread
• 1 tsp butter
• 4 sun dried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1/4 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp mixed chopped herbs, (I used basil and tarragon)
• Salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Combine the butter, cheese, tomatoes and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste.
2. Spread over the bread.
3. Transfer to a baking tray and place under the grill until golden brown.

Have a great week everyone!