Tomato Soup

Even my daughter who is not a soup lover at all loves this creamy tomato soup. The flavor of the tomatoes is incredible and the smooth and silky texture makes you want more. You could also use  canned tomatoes and omit the cream and it is still delicious.

Tomato Soup

(serves 4)

Jamie Oliver: jamie's dinners

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 garlic glove, peeled and finely chopped

1 carrot, coarsely grated

Olive oil

1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

2 egg yolks

1 kg (2 lb) super ripe tomatoes

2 pints chicken stock or 2 pints vegetable stock (5 cups, 1,18l)

Sea salt

Freshly ground pepper

• Directions

1. Put your onion, garlic, carrot and basil stalks into a large pot with a couple of lugs of olive oil. Cover the pan and simmer gently without colouring for 20 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.
2. Whisk together the cream, vinegar and egg yolks in a small bowl and put to one side.
3. While the vegetables are simmering, drop the tomatoes into boiling water for 30 seconds, then remove the skins and roughly chop the flesh. Add these to the veg, then pour in the stock and simmer for a further 20 minutes with the lid on.
4. At this point it's nice to puree the soup using either a food processor a blender or a hand-held blender, but be careful as it will be hot.
   
5. Put back into pan, bring back to a simmer and season carefully with salt and pepper.
6. Just before serving to enrich the soup and give it a shine and silky texture, whisk in the cream mixture, but (don't reboil it after adding the egg yolks or it will scramble) and 
   serve straight away sprinkled with a few torn up basil leaves.