English Breakfasts & Goan Holidays

Some of the best things they say in life are free. This might not hold true in every situation, but today, for me it did. Last year in March I went on a five day long tequila sunrise filled, bar hopping, beach walking incredible road trip to one of my favorite places in the world, Goa. I stayed at Rococco in Ashwem, in a room that had the perfect view of the ocean peeking through these pink-flowered trees that had been planted beneath the balcony, possibly to provide some privacy to the hotel guests. The chef at Rococco was from Uzbekistan and he whipped up some of the most tantalizing dishes throughout my stay there.

I had everything from Spaghetti Bolognese to Sushi and the quintessential Goan Fish Curry with steamed Rice. One particular meal I will always remember and never truly replicate though was the English breakfast. It was a ginormous platter of all my favorite things; two sunny side up eggs, the most succulent grilled sausages, crisp and perfectly fried bacon, baked beans, buttered toast and for the garnish it had fresh parsley and two slices of grilled tomatoes. These grilled tomatoes weren’t exactly the main ingredients of the meal nor were they necessary to complete it but something about the way they added the extra texture and flavor really stuck with me. Since then I’ve made several copy-cat English breakfasts just like that one and I almost always slice up a tomato, grill the slices and serve them with the dish.

This evening I was thinking about that trip for some reason and I felt like I just had to have that grilled garnish delight one more time. So I came up with one of the simplest and most satisfactory dishes I could've ever imagined. It, for me, captures the true essence of that splendid breakfast I enjoyed on the sunny and gorgeous beach of Ashwem and the six minutes it took me to devour the whole thing took me right back to it.

Here’s how you make my version of Grilled Tomato Soup

What you need

6 to 8 fresh tomatoes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Butter

8 to 10 peeled cloves of garlic, left whole

Fresh Cream

Salt, Pepper and Sugar for seasoning

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice the tomatoes into halves and place in a baking dish. Scatter the garlic over it and drizzle with at least 6 tablespoons of olive oil. Drop in a tablespoon or two of butter and season with pepper. Place the dish into the oven and check back in about 25 to 30 minutes. Once they have sizzled, started to caramelize and lightly burn on the surface your tomatoes are done!

Give it a couple of minutes to cool down and then mash the entire thing down with a spoon or whatever else you’d like. From my experience, whisks are not the best answer. Carefully season with very little sugar (that’s just to take away the acidic taste tomatoes naturally have) salt and pepper.

Accentuate this amazingly simple soup with another tiny dollop of butter followed by a generous layer of plain and unsweetened fresh cream and serve with hot buttered toast! You could go the extra mile and make garlic bread but I just couldn’t wait that long.

                                                                   Craving satisfied, The End.