Tomato soup

Ingredients:

·         1.25kg/ 2lb of ripe and juicy tomatoes

·         1 medium onion

·         Sugar,

·         2 bay leaves

·         Ground black pepper

·         2 stock cubes

First of all throw the vines and green bits away and wash the tomatoes. Then cut each tomato into quarters and slice off any hard cores as they don’t soften during cooking and you would get hard bits in the soup at the end.

Peel and chop the onion into small pieces. Afterwards pour 2 olive oil spoons on a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat until you can feel the heat rising from the oil, then tip in the onion and stir it with a wooden spoon until they are soft and faintly colored, Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan, sprinkle in a good pinch of sugar and grind in a little black pepper. Tear two bay leaves into a few pieces and throw them into the pan. Stir to mix everything together, cover the pan with the lid and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for 10 minutes until they shrink down in the pan and their juices flow nicely. From time to time give the pan a good shake, which will keep everything well mixed.

Then pour in slowly the 1.2L/ 2 pints of hot stock, stirring at the same time to mix it with the vegetables. Turn up to high heat until it starts bubbling, and then turn the heat down to low and cover again. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring once in a while until the tomatoes get a slushy looking.

Remove the pan from the heat, fish out the pieces of bay leaf and throw them away, the ladle the soup into the blender. Blend it until the soup is smooth. Pour the pureed soup into a large bowl and serve it.

Mercedes Martín. Advanced level. Year II