Tomato Soup

Tomato Soup

50 min, Dutch oven, serves 4

Ingredients

tinned tomatoes    1.6kg
butter             115g
onion              1
garlic             4 cloves
salt               to taste

San Marzano if you can get them, otherwise good plum tomatoes. For a blended soup like this, 1 tin San Marzano and 3 of good plum is plenty.

Recipe

1. Peel the onion and cut into quarters. Tip it into the Dutch oven with the tomatoes and butter. Smash the garlic cloves and add them too.

2. Bring to a gentle simmer over low heat, lid half on.

3. Simmer 45 minutes. Stir every 15 minutes so nothing catches on the base.

4. Remove the onion quarters and leave the garlic. Blend smooth with a stick blender. The butter emulsifies into the tomatoes and turns it velvety.

5. Now season. Add salt a little at a time, stirring and tasting as you go. Salting here, not at the start, is the trick: the soup reduces as it simmers, so seasoning against the finished volume stops it coming out too salty.

Serve with a cheese toastie.

❄ Freezer
Freeze: cool, then portion flat in bags.
Reheat: from frozen in a pan on low heat, lid on, or thaw in the fridge first.
Keeps: 3 months frozen, 4 days in the fridge.