Tomato and Mascarpone soup with Cheese and Tomato Toasties

Lord God it is bloody freezing down here in Brighton and I can't seem to stop eating tomato soup with cheese on toast at the moment. It is such a gorgeous combination though isn't it...cheese and tomato.
Especially when the cheese is all melted and dipped in hot home-made soup, yum. I only cooked enough to make a couple of bowls so feel free to increase the measurements to cook for more people.

1 tin of good quality tomatoes (I used CIRIO)
4 Medium Vine Tomatoes
2 Carrots
1 Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
A Dollop of Mascarpone
Pinch of Sugar
Olive Oil
Basil Leaves
Cracked Black Pepper

All you need to do is chop the onion and carrot into small pieces, crush the garlic and fry gently in the olive oil until they are soft and cooked through being careful not to burn the garlic. Next add your vine tomatoes with the skin and seeds removed and fry for further few minutes and then add your tin of tomatoes and simmer all together for around 15 Min's. Now add some torn basil and a big dollop ofmascarpone and transfer to a blender or just use a stick one and blend until smooth. Then put it all back in the pan and heat gently. I drizzled some olive oil and tore some basil on top of the soup. I served mine with cheese and tomato toasties which I used my trusty toasted sandwich maker for with lovely cheddar and sliced tomatoes. It is the perfect winter warmer and satisfying enough for a lovely cosy supper by the fire (if your lucky) or otherwise maybe the radiator.

Lot's of Home-Made Bread

I have a confession to make, I had never made bread before and I really do think it's one of those things I should have done already but I always thought it would be hard and it turns out it's actually rather easy, horray!
I am currently studying 'Culinart Arts's' at university and in my lesson this week we spent four hours making different types of bread from the book 'Dough: Simple Contemporary Breads' by  Richard Bertinet and I absolutely loved it.

My lovely french stick, it was a but thin but tasted great.

Small milk rolls that I made with some left over dough.

This is a garlic, rosemary and sea salt foccacia which I made using a dough that I added semolina and olive oil to.

These are lovely little bits of dough stuffed with home-made pesto. I believe they are French but have totally forgotten what they are called!

This pretty bread is called 'Fougass' and is on the front cover of the book 'Dough: Simple Contemporary Breads'

Another lovely bread that is made by shaping your dough in to a French stick type shape and then getting a pair of scissors and snipping it down the middle and pulling the snipped parts to each side.
I am definitely going to be making bread as often as I can now I know how easy and rewarding it is.