Tomato Soup Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Makes: approx 1 litre/1.05 quarts tomato soup
Ingredients Needed
- 2 tablespoons/30g/1oz butter
- 1 onion (110g/3.9ozs) finely chopped
- 680g/24ozs passata or 6 tomatoes
- 1 small stalk (40g/1.4oz) celery, chopped
- 1 cup/250ml/8.8flozs chicken stock
- 160g/5.6ozs tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarb
- 1-2 teaspoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons cream
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1 FRESH TOMATOES - Skip this step if you are using passata. Cut an X into the base of the tomato and have a bowl of ice water ready. Submerge in a pot of rapidly simmering water for 1 minute or until the X starts to deepen. Remove with tongs and plunge in ice water for 2 minutes. Peel skin and crush with hands, removing calyx.
Step 2 SAUTE - Heat a cast iron pot on low-medium heat. Add butter and saute onion and celery for 8-10 minutes or until the onion is soft and translucent. Stir in the passata or crushed tomatoes, stock, tomato paste and bi-carb. It will start to bubble as it heats but the bubbles will dissipate.
Step 3 SIMMER - Bring soup to a simmer for 10 minutes (15 minutes for fresh tomatoes). Add sugar to taste - start with 1 teaspoon and then add another to taste. Add salt and cream and stir. Cool for 10 minutes.
Step 4 PUREE - Puree the soup in a blender or a Thermomix (45 seconds, speed #9 or 60 seconds if using fresh tomatoes). If using fresh tomatoes pass through a sieve in 2-3 lots pressing the mixture to get as much out of it as possible. Serve with freshly cracked pepper and a drizzle of oil with a grilled cheese sandwich.
THERMOMIX DIRECTIONS
Step 1 SAUTE - Place the onions and celery in the TM bowl and set to 15 seconds, speed #5. Scrape down halfway if needed. Add butter and set to 10 minutes, 100C, speed 0.5.
Step 2 SIMMER - Add the passata or crushed tomatoes, stock, tomato paste and bicarb. Set to 10 minutes (15 mins for fresh tomatoes), 100C, speed #1.5 and remove MC. Add cream, then sugar to taste and season with salt. Then set to puree 1 minute, speed #8. If using fresh tomatoes, pass through a sieve.
Personal Note
The impetus for this recipe was a bounty of tomatoes I received unexpectedly (ironically I make this more often with passata which I prefer as it is a bit quicker to make). We get our groceries delivered every week from the supermarket. It's something we started doing during COVID that we just continued doing as it's a huge time saver. I actually don't mind going to the supermarket and seeing what's on the shelves but that takes a lot of time.
It's not a foolproof thing though. Sometimes one egg in a dozen is cracked or you might get a teeny tiny cauliflower. There was also a time when I used to get tinned beans and tomatoes with huge dents in them that I seriously wondered about the pickers and if they were ok because the dents were so obvious.
But last week, instead of getting 7 tomatoes as I had asked for, I got a bag of 27 tomatoes! The bag had a couple of other things that we had ordered so I think it was meant for us. I think the picker misread our order! So I made many batches of tomato soup along with other tomato dishes like this famous Humbug tomato salad and crustless quiche!
And then today when our groceries arrived, we received two bottles of mouthwash!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever received bonus items with your deliveries? And have you ever tried the bicarb trick with tomatoes?