The Perfect Soup for You
We had such a lovely weekend I have nothing to complain about. And even if I did have something, I would just report about it, period. Remember last week I said I wanted to take the ‘my glass is half- full approach’ and an extremely positive attitude so that I can live to be 105 like Edythe Kirchmaier. Oh yes, I am one happy woman right now.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend. If your weekend was not good, please try to have an ‘orange Monday’. I have just read on ‘color wheel pro,’ that orange combines the energy of red and happiness of yellow and is associated with joy, sunshine, and tropics. It represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement and motivation. Please hang something orange in your office or favourite spot in the house, or have an orange ornament in a visible spot so when you start feeling blue, you can quickly get yourself out of the blue mood, by remembering that the colour orange represents joy and sunshine. I don’t have an orange ornament or wall hanging, yet, but I’m going to get myself one. I’ll take a picture of it and post it on the website. Please send me a picture of your favourite orange piece of art, wall hanging or ornament. I shall post it on a Monday to brighten everyone’s mood.
Today I want to share with you the recipe for Tomato Soup. This talk about the colour orange, made me remember the tomato soup I made. It was really nice and fresh. My children loved it too. Please try it and give me a feedback, if you do happen to make the soup.
Cream of Tomato Soup
Preparation time: 20 minutes; Total cooking time: 40 minutes; Serves: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 100g (4oz) smoked bacon, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- I large onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 stalks celery, tough strings removed and then thinly sliced
- 750g (1½ Ib) ripe tomatoes washed, skinned, deseeded, and chopped or 796ml (26oz) can Italian tomatoes
- A few basil sprigs, bruised
- 500ml (2 cups) vegetable or chicken stock
- 2-3 tablespoons tomato paste, blended with two tablespoons cold water
- 150ml (⅔ cup) 35% cream (you can use half and half)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Extra basil to garnish
Instructions
- Heat a large saucepan over medium heat and add the olive oil. Fry the bacon until lightly browned.
- Add the garlic, onion and celery and sweat for 5 minutes.
- Then add the chopped tomatoes, and the bruised basil sprigs and cook gently for a further 5 minutes. Pour in the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes or until tomatoes are pulpy and the vegetables soft.
- Remove from heat and blend until smooth. Rinse the saucepan and return the soup to it. Mix the tomato paste with 2 tablespoons cold water and stir into the soup. Heat gently until piping hot. Adjust seasoning.
- Allow the soup to cool for 2 minutes then stir in all the cream and serve immediately with chunks of fresh bread.
Points to Note:
- To skin and deseed tomatoes: Make a small cross on top of each tomato. Place the tomatoes in a large bowl. Cover with boiling water. Leave for 2 minutes, then drain, peel and discard the skins. Cut tomatoes into quarters, discard the core, Scoop out the seeds and discard, and then chop them.
- The 750g (1½Ib) tomatoes yielded 540g (1.2Ib) of tomato after peeling and deseeding. You can use the 796ml (28fl oz) can of tomatoes for this recipe.
- Last Updated: 15 March 2015
myfavouritepastime.com
Step By Step Photos
Always remember to assemble all ingredients before you start. This makes the cooking go faster.
First start by adding 2 tablespoons olive oil to the pan. If you don’t have olive oil substitute with the oil you normally use for cooking.
Now add the bacon and fry until lightly browned. If you don’t like or don’t use bacon, please just omit it. Bacon is added to enhance the flavour of the soup.
Have the garlic, onion and celery at hand whilst frying the bacon.
Add the garlic, onion and celery and sweat for five minutes.
then add the chopped tomatoes, and the bruised basil sprigs and cook gently for a further 5 minutes.
Pour in the stock (broth).
Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes or until tomatoes are pulpy and the vegetables are soft.
Remove from heat and blend until smooth. You can use any type of blender or food processor.
This is what my soup looked like after blending. It looked more like carrot soup. The colour you get will depend on the type of tomatoes you use. I used Roma tomatoes. if you want a finer and smooth soup, pass it through a sieve.
Add the tomato paste, blended with water, to the soup. Heat gently until piping hot. Allow the soup to cool two minutes and then stir in all the whipping cream.
Serve the soup immediately with chunks of fresh bread.
myfavouritepastime.com
My Favourite Pastime 
It amazes me that a love for food can forge a friendship over such a distance! I have had a crazy busy beginning to the year. Things have finally calmed down again and I can spend more time on ‘my favourite pastime” 😉 Hope you are having many many happy days were your glass is not only half full, but where you have found the tap 😉 Warm warm greetings!
Thanks for the warm greetings. I feel so guilty because I didn’t respond asap, but it’s always better late than never. I have just been browsing your blog. I love the things you cook and I especially want to try that quinoa salad. It’s deeply etched in my mind. Enjoy the week, ahead, my dear friend.
Best wishes,
Liz
Looks absolutely delicious; definitely something I will be trying out soon.
I hope you find time to try. Have a lovely weekend!
liz
This looks so delicious..I wanna reach out into the screen and have it…lol
Thank you. It’ a lovely soup with a delicate flavour. Unforgettable!!!
Wish you a wonderful weekend!
liz
Have a beautiful weekend 🙂
Oh Thank you so much. The weekend is cool and rainy. Just blogging and sniffing fresh air. Have a great weekend too!
Liz
Yes, it’s raining here too and pretty cool wind. Loving it 🙂
Ha ha me too!!!!
I just found this fabulous recipe! I’ve been wanting to make tomato soup using fresh tomatoes and this looks FABULOUS!! Pinning it? Does the bear………?! ; o )
Thanks for pinning. I love tomato soup. always a great pleasure to drink
Liz
Looks and sounds delicious. This is a long break you’re on – even for me. 🙂
Ha ha. I am doing other things for now…thanks for visiting. I wish you a happy week!
Liz
Soup looks super temptimg
Thank you. It was good, while it lasted…I wish you a happy blogging!!!
Liz
Going to try it your way! I’ve been trying to emulate the tomato bisque at my local favorite wine bar (2 South in Old Colorado City, CO) and can’t quite get it right. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by. Kind regards!
Right on…will let you know how it comes out. Might try tossing in some clams and mussels and make it a cioppino style something.
That sounds really delicious. Please share with me the recipe!
Will do! See if I can play around with it this weekend and take some pics.
I would love to see the pictures, thanks! Happy Easter to you!
I really like the tomato soup it has a nice tangy taste,the texture was sort of like in between not to thick not to thin it was wonderful
Thank you so much for the feedback. I really appreciate. And thanks for the support, always!