1: To make the soup, melt the butter in a heavy bottomed large pan and sweat the sliced onion until soft. Chop and add the red chilli, seeds and all. Grate the 4 cloves of garlic and add that to the pan and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.

2: Add the caster sugar to the pan and the red wine vinegar. Bring it up to the boil and reduce down by ¼. Cut the tomatoes into chunks; keep the skin on and all of the seeds. Add them to the pan with a pinch of salt and cook on a medium heat until they have broken down and are stewed and they pan is full of tomato ware.

3: Add the bunch of basil, stalks and leaves. Tear up the bread with your hands and drop it into the soup. Add the cayenne pepper and bring it up to the boil. Remove from the heat and let the bread soak up some juice and thicken the soup.

4: To make the basil oil, pick the leaves from the basil and place them into a jug blender. Add the olive oil, pour it on to the basil. Put the lid on and cover with a cloth and blend together, and season. Pass the oil through a muslin cloth or tea towel and put it in the fridge to cool.

5: In the same blender, put the bunch of basil leaves, grated garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and blend. Add the olive oil slowly and season.

6: Blend the soup in the jug blender and season with salt and cayenne pepper. Pass the soup through a fine sieve and keep until needed in the fridge.

7: Heat up the soup and pour into your serving bowls. Put a teaspoon of pesto into the soup. Drizzle with some basil oil and garnish with the saved basil leaves.

8: Serve with some crisp croutons or parmesan crisps. These are very easy to do, just sprinkle some grated parmesan onto a tray and bake it in a pre-heated oven until melted and crisp. Remove from the oven and cool. Break them up and serve them with the soup or salads.