Tomato Soup

So it's week three of Chez Chelle and this weeks key ingredient is TOMATO

I have to be honest, I am not a fan of tomato in it's raw or fresh state, but I do love them used in cooking for pasta sauces, rice dishes and soup and so on. I have decided to use a recipe for tomato soup which is perfect for colder weather, for using up riper tomatoes and it's healthy and satisfying!

TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients:

1-1.25kg ripe tomatoes
1 medium onion
2 small carrots
2 tbsp olive oil
2 squirts of tomato purée (about 2 tsp)
a good pinch of sugar
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 pints vegetable or chicken stock (I use 2 stock cubes)
Black pepper
Salt if required

Method:

Remove stalks from the tomatoes and cut each one into quarters. Remove any hard cores.
Peel the onion and carrot and chop them into small pieces.
Spoon the oil into a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat and add the onion and carrot and mix them together with a wooden spoon. Still with the heat low, cook the veg until they're soft and faintly coloured (takes about 10 minutes) and you should stir them two or three times so they cook evenly and don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Then add about about 2 tsp of tomato purée and then stir so it turns the vegetables red.
Add the tomatoes and sprinkle in a good pinch of sugar and grind in a little black pepper. Add the bay leaves. Stir to mix everything together, put the lid on the pan and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for approx 10 minutes until they shrink down in the pan and their juices are freed. Give the pan a good stir every now and then
Add the stock and stir the vegetables mix. Turn up the heat as high as it will go and wait until everything is bubbling, then reduce the heat down to low again and put the lid back on the pan. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times. At the end of cooking the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy looking.
Remove the pan from the heat, and remove the bay leaves.
Blend the soup until smooth. Season to taste and add more sugar if required. Then serve and enjoy!
(You can stir in some cream if you want to)






Ps
I can't take credit for the photo!! I borrowed it! But this is the colour and consistency of this soup and I have made it several times and it really is yummy :) I just didn't have enough tomatoes or time today to make this! *hangs head in shame*