Tomato And Carrot Soup

This is a wonderful, creamy Tomato And Carrot Soup. The added eating apple helps balance the sweetness of the carrots with the savoury taste of the ripe tomatoes. Use either a Chicken Stock, or for Vegetarians use a Vegetable Stock.

Tomato And Carrot Soup Recipe

Serves 4 people

Recipe Ingredients:

• 15g butter
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1 onion (peeled and finely chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (peeled and finely chopped)
• 175g carrots (peeled and finely chopped)
• 450g tomatoes (skinned and roughly chopped)
• 1 ripe eating apple (peeled, cored and chopped)
• Bouquet garni (bag of herbs) of thyme, marjoram and 3 bay leaves
• 3 tbsp fresh basil leaves (chopped finely)
• 1.2 litres Chicken Stock (or Vegetable Stock)
• Pinch ground sea-salt and black pepper
• 120ml double cream

Croûtons – 6 tablespoons croutons

• 3 crustless slices of day old bread
• knob of butter to fry & 2 tbsp olive oil

To serve

• 200ml single cream (gently warmed)
• small handful of chives (chopped fine)

Recipe Method:

Skin the tomatoes: blanch and skin the tomatoes. You need two medium sized bowls and a sharp knife. Do the tomatoes four at a time. Use the knife to place a small, skin deep, cut into the tomatoes. Put them in a bowl with boiling water from the kettle in it, remove them after 30 seconds to a minute, with a slotted spoon, and place them into a bowl of cold water. Then peel at the place where the skin was cut. Refresh the hot water if it starts too get too cold. Cut the tomatoes roughly, place them into a bowl, preserving all the juice.

Melt the butter with the vegetable oil in a tall, large, heavy-based saucepan. Put in the chopped onion and minced garlic and cook over a low heat for 15 minutes, until the onion is soft and transparent. Add the chopped carrot and stir over a low heat until all the butter and oil has been absorbed by the carrots.

Add the chopped tomatoes, sliced eating apple, bouquet garni and the stock, (chicken or vegetable) season to taste with ground sea-salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer for an hour (60 minutes). Take off the heat and stir in the cream.

Remove and discard the bouquet garni and use a hand blender (or a regular blender, and do it in batches if needed) and blend the soup to a smooth, silky liquid. Return the smooth soup to the saucepan (if removed) add the finely chopped basil, heat through and adjust the seasoning.

For the croûtons: Cut the crustless day old bread slices into small cubes and fry in a large knob of butter with two tablespoons of olive oil, in a hot frying pan until very crisp. Remove the croutons to drain on some kitchen towel, and reserve.

Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if needed. Serve the Tomato & Carrot Soup hot. Transfer to a serving bowl, swirl in the cream, sprinkle over the chopped chives, and garnish with the croutons.