Creamy Tomato Soup

Creamy Tomato Soup

I have a boy who's not a big fan of vegetables so soup provides a great way to get veg into his diet. Once processed it's a form of 'hidden veg', he doesn't have to chew the lumps but all the vitamins are in there. An easy & quick way to make soup is to grate veg into a pan before topping with stock, simmering until soft then processing until smooth. This recipe does this and contains tomatoes & carrot. A take on tinned tomato soup...but without the added salt & sugar. Serve with cheese toasties for dunking :-)

25g Butter
1 Red Onion, chopped
1 Leek, chopped
2 Garlic Cloves, crushed (or 2 tsp Lazy Garlic)
2 Carrots, peeled & grated
2 medium Potatoes, peeled & grated
600ml Vegetable Stock
1kg ripe Tomatoes, peeled, deseeded & chopped (an easy way to do this is to cut a small cross in the bottom of the tomatoes, blanch in a bowl of boiling water for a few minutes, drain in a colander then the skins can be removed easily. Use a teaspoon or ice cream scoop to remove seeds.)
2 tbsp Tomato Purée
Sea Salt & Ground Pepper
300ml Full Fat Milk
(serves 4)

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over a low heat. Cook the onion, leek & garlic for around 10 minutes until soft but not browned.
2. Add the carrot and potato. Cook for 5 minutes more before adding the stock and bringing to a gentle simmer.
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato purée and season to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are very soft. Add the milk, warm through then transfer to a blender/ food processor and process until smooth.
4. Return the soup to the rinsed out pan & gently reheat (if you wish you can pass through a sieve to the pan).