Tomato Soup
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Silky smooth rich tomato sauce perfumed with basil and spiced with chilli.
Serves:1 litre
Ingredients
- 1 kilo tomatoes - roughly chopped (quarters is fine) skins removed if you are blending rather than using the food mill - you will need 1.5 kilos if using cherry tomatoes
- 2 large sweet onions - finely chopped
- 2 medium carrots - grated
- 1 medium sweet red pepper (finely sliced)
- 1 fresh banana chill optional
- 1 rib celery very finely sliced (including leaves)
- 1 medium potato (about 100 g)
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1 bay leaf
- small strip of orange peel
- 500 plus ml vegetable or chicken stock
- 2 tbsp concentrated tomato paste
- olive oil
- freshly ground black pepper and salt
Instructions
- In a large, heavy-based pan, add the olive oil. When warm, add the grated carrot, onions, red pepper, bay leaf, orange peel, potato, and celery.
- Sauté until soft and translucent, then add the tomatoes (fresh, canned or sauce), garlic and saffron. Season with black pepper, then simmer until the tomatoes have dissolved and broken down, forming a gooey sauce.
- Remove the bay leaf and orange rind. Push all the sauce through a food mill or sieve, or if you have peeled the tomatoes, by all means, puree with a stick blender.
- At this point, you can freeze the sauce and finish seasoning when you're ready to use it. The tomato sauce is not suitable for bottling because it contains olive oil.
- To finish the soup, return the sauce to a large pan. Add a tbsp of the tomato paste and 200ml of the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer. Add a tbsp of sherry vinegar and taste to see if you need to add more salt, pepper, stock, or a little more tomato paste. It varies depending on the quality of the tomatoes and how rich, thick, or thin you want the soup to be.
- To serve - season with a little more chilli, then swirl in yoghurt or crème fraîche.
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