Soups On! Tomato Cream Soup

Soups on! Tomato cream soup is just perfect for the -5c weather we are having the last few days.( And I was just starting to get so excited about the couple of warm weather days, thinking Spring was coming early this year:( , should of listened to my husband. )
This soup recipe is going to be my first "Recipe Review", the recipe belongs to John from Cooking with Passion. I actually found it last fall, and had been meaning to review it for a while. I did get around to cooking this delicious and very filling soup, as a matter of fact I've made it a couple of times, so you know I like it:) The first time I made it I followed the exact instructions that John gives, the second time I substituted sour cream for cream to make it creamier ( and because I was out of sour cream). So here it goes.



Tomato soup, adapted from Cooking with Passion
Ingredients
1 finely chopped white onion
3 finely chopped clove of garlic
4 inch piece of celery finely chopped
1 medium carrot peeled and finely chopped
5 medium tomatoes cored and quartered
1 tbsp tomato paste
Pinch finely chopped fresh basil
Pinch of salt, pepper and sugar
1 cup of chicken stock
(1-2 TB of oil, I used sunflower oil or you could use olive oil too)

1 heaped tbsp sour cream
Parsley leaf for decoration

Blender or hand held blender

1. Wash,chop, dice, peel all of the vegetables. In a large pot heat the oil and add all of the vegetable except the tomatoes, stirring to prevent them from burning. Once the vegetables are softened through, add the tomato pastes making sure all the vegetables are coated completely. Next add the tomatoes, add a pinch each of salt, black pepper and sugar, stir to combine all of the ingredients. Simmer until the tomatoes have soften and started to fall apart.
2.Add the chicken stock and a bit of the fresh basil, cover and simmer until the tomatoes have completely separated and become mushy, it will take about 20 minutes. Test to make sure all of the vegetables have cooked through, turn off heat and leave uncovered for about 15 minutes to cool down.
3. Pour some of the soup into a blender , or using a hand held blender mix in the pot. Puree soup until it's a soft and creamy mixture. You can put through a fine sieve to remove the skins and seeds. ( He also suggested removing the seeds and skin at the start of the process. I preferred to remove the seeds when I was cutting the tomatoes, as for the skins I left them.)
4. Put the soup back in the pot with a nob of butter and bring to a boil. Just before serving if you like sour cream you can add some to the soup now. (I used 2 tbs. of cream and I omitted the butter.) Serve with bread and garnish with some parsley leaf, I added dried basil instead of parsley.


What do I think of the recipe and the soup? I quite liked this soup, it's hard to get good tomato soup. But this one is exactly how I wanted it, creamy with the tomato taste but without the overly sweetened taste of tomato paste. It's very filling so if you want an easy lunch or a lighter dinner, this is it. As I said before I have made it a couple of times, and I will continue to make it on cold days like today.
Stop by Cooking with Passion for some more great recipes from John.