Ingredients
- 750g/1.5 lb ripe tomatoes
- 25g/1 oz butter
- 1 Spanish onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely sliced
- 30ml/2 tabls flour
- 600ml/1pt light chicken stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 15ml/1tbls sugar
- pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 150ml/5 fl oz thick cream
- 5-10ml/1-2 tsp tomato puree (optional)
- 15ml/1 tbls snipped chives
Method
- Put tomatoes in a bowl, pour over boiling water to slip off skins. Halve the tomatoes horizontally and squeeze out the seeds into a nylon sieve set over a bowl. using a wooden spoon, press the seeds against the sieve to extract all the juice. Coarsely chop the tomato flesh.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the finely sliced onion and carrot and cook gently for 5-6 minutes, until soft. Stir in the flour and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Add the coarsely chopped tomato flesh, the juice strained from the tomato seeds, chicken stock, bay leaf and sugar. Season to taste with nutmeg, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil,stirring continuously, then reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for 20-30 minutes.
- Cool the soup slightly, then puree it in a blender. Rub the soup through a sieve into a bowl. return the soup to the rinsed-out saucepan and stir in the thick cream.
- Reheat the soup gently. Add the tomato puree if you need to heighten the tomato flavour. Serve the soup sprinkled with snipped chives.