FRESH TOMATO SOUP

With lots of fresh tomatoes from the garden I decided to make tomato soup. The origins of the recipe came from a former neighbour of mine. She shared it with me many years ago. Of course I tweaked it and made a few changes. I add a bit more vegetables than she did, I sauté them and I use thyme instead of cloves. I don't always add onion to the vegetable mixture. It is a wonderful tasting soup and one that I don't tire of. In making this recipe, I used six tomatoes and four of them were the Italian variety which are less watery. I also added 2 1/2 cups of milk and bit more flour with the larger amount of tomatoes.  

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp oil, e.g. avocado or olive oil
2 slices onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 coloured pepper, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
salt and pepper

4 medium size tomatoes, core removed and chopped

2 cups of milk or milk alternative, e.g. almond or soy
1 tbsp flour
dash of salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sugar, maple syrup or agave

DIRECTIONS:

Add the milk, flour, salt, thyme and sugar to a blender. Blend for 30 seconds in order to mix the flour with the milk. Set aside.

In a medium size pot, heat the oil on the stove using a high temperature. Add the garlic and all of the vegetables, except the tomatoes. Reduce the heat to medium. Stir frequently so that the vegetables don't burn. Add salt and pepper. If the heat is too high, reduce to low and continue sautéing for five minutes. The vegetables need to be partially cooked and still have a bit of crunch. Turn the stove off and remove the pot from the stove. Empty the vegetables from the pot into a bowl. 

Pour the milk from the blender into the same pot that you used to sauté the vegetables. Add the vegetables into the blender with the chopped tomatoes. Puree for several minutes. I like the puree to have some tiny bits of vegetables and not have it totally smooth. Add the tomato mixture to the pot with the milk to create the soup.

Heat the pot with the soup on the stove to medium high. Stir with a mixing spoon and watch that the soup doesn't start to boil. You want to heat it up just to the boiling point. Once it is hot it is ready to be served. Serves 4 depending on bowl size.