Simple Tomato Soup

To me, tomato soup is more of a fresh soup for the spring and summer. Comforting soups full of good farmhouse root vegetables immediately conjour up images of cozying up in the winter and eating big bowls of warming soup wrapped up in blankets while the fire roars and the snow falls outside.

But tomato soup is for when the sun starts shining with more warmth and the birds have woken up and when you can leave the windows and patio doors wide open and feel a pleasant breeze waft in.

You can’t really go wrong with tomato soup. It’s the perfect lunch or even starter and because it’s made with tomato passata which can be bought all year round you can actually make this soup any time of year. Either in the winter to be a happy reminder of sunnier warmer days or in the spring and summer as a lovely, refreshing lunch.

6 servings

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
750g tomato passata
2-3 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
Salt and pepper, to taste
Splash of milk or cream (optional)

Method:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and saute the onion for 5 min. Add garlic and cook for another minute.
2. Add tomato passata, stock, herbs, balsamic vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. In a small saucepan melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk vigorously, then add two ladles of soup to the small saucepan. Whisk again, the mixture will thicken very quickly. Add another three ladles of soup and whisk in. Add two final ladles of soup, whisk until thickened and then add this thickened soup mixture back to the large saucepan.
4. Now you can blend the soup if you would like to, but this step is definitely optional. It just depends how smooth you like your soup (blend with either a food processor or using a stick blender).
5. Stir in milk or cream if using and serve on it’s own, with cheese sprinkled on top, with cheese on toast or some crusty bread and butter.

We always like to serve soup with cheese on toast. It’s the perfect combination in our humble opinion 🙂