Tomato Soup
Ingredients
11oz Medium Tomatoes on the Vine
7oz Cherry Tomatoes on the Vine
7oz Plum Tomatoes
3tbsp Tomato Puree
7 Garlic Cloves Crushed
2 Small Carrots
1 Medium Onion
650mls Chicken Stock
3 Bay Leaves
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Instructions
Skin the tomatoes, by scoring an X onto the bottom of them and on the larger tomatoes remove the cores. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes, until the skin starts to crack, remove from the the heat and strain, then place the tomatoes in ice cold water. This stops the cooking of the tomatoes and you can now easily peel the skin off your tomatoes.
Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and with 2 tablespoons of oil fry off your diced carrots and onion and crushed garlic until the onion has browned slightly and the carrot and garlic has softened. Season well with salt and pepper.
Squeeze in the 3 tablespoons of tomato puree and cook for about 2 minutes until it starts to stick to the bottom of the saucepan. It’s important to cook off the tomato puree as it releases the nuttiness and deepens the flavour of it.
Add in your skinned tomatoes and stir them around helping them break up a little.
Pour in the 650mls of Chicken stock, you can use vegetable stock if you prefer as it works just as well but I find that the chicken stock offers a richer flavour. Along with the stock add in the bay leaves. Season again with salt and pepper and bring to the boil uncovered.
Once it starts to boil, lower the heat and cover with a lid and leave to simmer for 25 minutes
After the 25 minutes take it off the heat and remove the bay leaves. Slowly and carefully not to burn yourself, ladle the soup into a blender and blitz until smooth. For the smoothest soup and to remove the seeds strain it through a sieve back into the saucepan. You now have a wonderful heart warming soup to enjoy on these cold winter nights.
Serves 4
