TOMATO SOUP

Tomato Soup:
If you're cooking for only yourself, 3-4 medium sized tomatoes will do. If you're planning for a friend or family, go with more, say 6-7 tomatoes. Trust me, once they reduce down you will wish you started with more.

Ingredients- 4-7 tomatoes
1/4 - 1/2 cup cream (?)
spices - pepper, oregeno , garlic, celery seed
an egg

Tomatoes- core out the fibrous part, then wash them and put 'em in a blender or food processor to chop them up finely. You can of course skip the blender step and just slice them with a knife, but I find it takes longer to cook down that way. The blender method definitely saves cooking time.

After blending /food processing / chopping with knife: put them in a pot over medium heat. You can mix in a little cream (1/2 cup +/- depending on how many tomatoes you start with) although I usually don't (we just don't seem to keep dairy around the house) . It just depends on what I have to work with and my mood. You may be tempted to add a little water, but I never do. I find it dilutes the flavor. I find that that while cooking them down the skins & pulpy parts all dissolve into the stew, so don't worry about skinning them in advance.

If you do add cream, cook the tomatoes a little first (15 mins, give or take), that way you won't worry about scorching the cream. I also like to add an egg pretty late in the process- like once I think it's done I'll whip an egg in there. After about a minute or so it will be cooked into the soup.

Spices: I like garlic, pepper, oregano & a little celery seed. Fresh bay leaves are good too but if they're not fresh I wouldn't bother.

If you just slice up the tomatoes in advance, I find it takes around 20-25 minutes to cook. When I chop them up with a blender or food processor, it seems to take around 10-15 minutes.

I realize this 'recipe' is pretty informal, but I'm always pleased with how it turns out. Beware, it will be HOT out of the pot. Let me know how it works out for you.

Courtesy of George Leverett/ Contact George by clicking here.