Slow-roast Tomato Soup with Fried Mackerel and Basil Pesto

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ 180°C Fan/ Gas Mark 6

Place the tomato halves (you can quarter really large ones) cut-side upwards into a baking dish big enough to hold the tomatoes in a single layer. Scatter over the thyme stems and the sliced garlic, then trickle over the olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.

Place the dish in the oven and roast the tomatoes for 45-60 minutes, or until they have begun to blister around their edges and are well on their way to collapsing.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Using the back of a ladle rub the tomatoes through a course sieve, extracting all that rich, thick sauce.

Discard the skin and seeds left behind in the compost. Pour the tomato soup into a Le Creuset 24cm Signature Round Casserole and bring to a simmer. You can adjust the balance of sweetness and acidity with a dash of cider vinegar or a pinch or two of sugar. Either way, taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper to your liking. If the soup is too thin, you can simmer it for a little longer to thicken it.

Meanwhile, make the pesto. Place a dry non-stick frying pan over a low to medium heat. Add the sunflower seeds and cook, stirring regularly for a few minutes until the seeds are toasted and fragrant. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Place the cooled, toasted seeds in a food processor with the garlic, cheese and salt and pulse until you have a fairly fine consistency. Throw in the basil and pulse until well chopped, then gradually add the oil. When everything is combined to a nice, even texture check the seasoning and spoon the pesto out into a bowl.

When you’re ready to serve the soup, you can cook the fish. Re-heat the non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil, bay leaf, thyme and bashed garlic clove, two flavours that work beautifully together when cooking mackerel.

Cut the fillets in half, giving you eight small pieces. Season the mackerel lightly with salt and pepper and place the pieces, skin-side down in the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the fillets are almost cooked through, then flip the fish over and switch off the heat. The fillets will finish cooking in the residual heat of the pan.

Ladle the soup between 4 wide, warm bowls. Add two pieces of fish to each bowl and spoon on some pesto.

Finish with a trickle of your best olive oil, a twist of black pepper and a few small basil leaves if you have them.