I still have to wait a few months before it’s that time again.

Tomato season, I mean.

That’s hard, because I’m already craving some freshly made tomato soup!

So I guess it’s time for my all-time favourite recipe; tomato soup au natural, the way my mom used to make it. “But why post it now?” you ask — quite justly…Well, because I’ve had a request from one of the Kookgrrls, a Dutch mailinglist for women who like to cook.

Needed (serves 4)

Tomatoes

  • 1 shallot (skinned and chopped)
  • 1 garlic clove (skinned)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 650 gr tomatoes (skinned, cores removed and chopped roughly; you may choose to remove the seeds with the core but I like the tanginess it adds to the soup)
  • 500 ml vegetable stock (or boiled water and 1 cube of vegetable stock separately)
  • small can of pureed tomato
  • salt + pepper
  • optional: sugar
  • optional: fresh basil

Preparation

  • Sauté onion and crushed garlic for about half a minute in heated olive oil.
  • Add tomatoes, let cook for two more minutes.
  • Add vegetable stock (or hot water and crumbled vegetable stock cube), bring to a boil (stir), cover and let simmer for approx. 20 minutes.
  • Use food processor or blender to smoothen.
  • Optional: use a sieve to sift the seeds out of the soup. I never do.
  • Add tomato puree to taste.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • If you’re a sweet tooth you can add some sugar.
  • Reheat.

I’ve assumed you know how to peel tomatoes. There are several ways to do it, but this howto on GoodFood explains the simple technique I use. I leave them for up to 1 minute in the water, no more. Mr Gnoe doesn’t skin the tomatoes beforehand btw… He takes out the green hearts, chops them roughly and cooks the whole lot. Then, instead of using a blender, he works the fruit mass manually through a sieve. Way too hard work for me, I’m lazy ;)

You can use some freshly cut basil as garnish. And here’s another one of Gnoe’s tips (I hope I haven’t told you before): do NOT cut your basil leaves with a knife or scissors but tear them apart with your hands. This way their essential flavours will come out best.

Weekend Cooking buttonI like to make many batches of tomato soup at the same time and freeze ‘em :) Of course they’ve all long gone by now…

With this post I’m joining in the Weekend Cooking at Beth Fish Reads.

Once I have finally made some fresh tomato soup again I’ll take a picture to pimp this post. Please let me know if you want me to add a Dutch translation as well?