Recipe: Creamy Tomato Soup

Couple of months ago, I have discovered a wonderful “Creamy Tomato Soup” (Check out the photo album at http://picasaweb.google.com/john.markh/RecipeCreamyTomatoSoup#) recipe on the BBC website (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2075/tomato-soup) and it was a huge success! I've made some “improvements” to suit my taste, so let's cook a little bit more...

For this recipe. we will need: 1 kg of ripe tomatoes 1 large potato 1-2 small/medium carrots 1 medium onion 2 celery sticks 1 litre of vegetarian stock 2 tbs olive oil 100 ml double cream Spices (salt, peper, paprika and 1-2 bay leave) First of all, if you don't have vegetarian stock ready, boil 1 litre of water, add 2-3 stock cubes and let it stand. Meanwhile, chop everything into even pieces...

Now, heat olive oil in cooking pan. Make sure you don't burn it as it will loose all the taste and healthy qualities it has (the trick is to heat it on the medium heat for longer period). Add spices and all vegetables, except tomatoes, and cook them on a medium/low heat for about 5-10 minutes. When they are soft, add tomatoes and cook for additional 10-15 minutes. I used to shake the cooking pot every now and then to make sure everything cooked evenly. When all the vegetables are soft, add the stock, bring it to boil, reduce the heat to medium/low, cover and cook for about 30 minutes, stiring from time to time. At the end of cooking the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy looking.

Uncover the soup (careful with the steam) and let it stand for 10-15 minutes to cool. Now, ladle the soup into the blender until it is about ¼ full (fill it with a mixture of cooked vegetables and the stock). Do not shorten the process by filling in more as you will burn yourself with the hot soup and then spend the next hour cleaning the walls (I did)! Blitz until the soup is smooth (about 20-30 seconds). Carefully pour the purée from the blender into a separate dish and repeat the process with the rest of the soup.

Now, to the last bit. Pour the puréed soup back into the pan and reheat it over a medium heat for a few minutes, add double cream and stirring occasionally until you can see bubbles breaking gently on the surface.

Bonn Appetite!