Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 kg tomatoes, no more than 1.25 kg
• 1 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 large carrot
• 2 sticks celery
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 tsp. tomato purée
• 2 bay leaves
• 1.2 litres vegetable stock
• fresh basil, to garnish

Method

1. Firstly, prepare your vegetables.
2. Wash the tomatoes and cut each one into quarters slicing off any hard cores.
3. Peel the onion, garlic and carrot and chop them into small pieces. Chop the celery into roughly the same size pieces.
4. Add the olive oil into a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat.
5. Add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery.
6. Gently cook for approximately 10 minutes until the vegetables are softened.
7. To the vegetables, add the tomato purée, tomatoes and black pepper.
8. Add the bay leaves and leave to simmer on a low heat for approximately 10 minutes until everything shrinks down in the pan and the juices are flowing.
9. Stir frequently until the vegetables are thoroughly mixed together.
10. Slowly pour in the hot stock.
11. Turn up the heat and let the mixture bubble, then turn the heat down to low.
12. Replace the lid and cook gently for a further 23-30 minutes.
13. Stir the soup every 5 minutes or so to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan and to keep the heat evenly distributed.
14. When cooked, turn the heat off, give the soup a good stir and remove all of the bay leaves.
15. Slowly pour the mixture into a blender and blitz until smooth.
16. Serve with a sprinkling of torn basil leaves.

Chefs Tips

• This is one of the most amazing tomato soups you will come across and totally adaptable to your taste buds, if you like a bit of heat you can add in a pinch of cayenne pepper, add some basil when the soup is simmering and the aromas will summon the whole family to the kitchen. What’s more, this soup can be made in batches and frozen for up to three months.

Nutritional Value

(per serving)

Calories 123 kcal
Total Fat 7 gm
Saturated Fat 1 gm
Carbohydrates 13 gm
Fibre 4 gm
Protein 4 gm