I wasn’t intending blogging today but I began making this tomato soup from bits and pieces I found lying around my friend’s fridge and things started turning out really good so I thought I should start writing things down.

Ingredients: a quarter red onion (finely chopped), 2 cherry tomatoes (finely chopped), 6 cherry tomatoes (still on the vine, for extra flavour), the juice of half a lemon, 1 stock cube, 1 clove garlic, small glass red wine, 1/2 glass water. I have been cooking this on a medium heat in a saucepan with lid on for about 10 minutes.

So now you’re up to speed, my next step is to mash the mixture through a sieve (I usually blend but figure this technique will give a smoother result):

I transfer the sieved soup to a saucepan and add about 2 tsp of Parmesan cheese (as an umami seasoning) and let that simmer for a further 3 minutes on a low heat until the Parmesan vanishes.

And then I serve!

So how does it taste?

It’s probably one of the best tomato soups I’ve ever made; not rich but smooth; very flavourful and well balanced; umami; slightly tart but in a way that balances everything else; very tomato-ey because I left the vine in. One crucial detail is the fact I didn’t blend the mixture but passed it through a sieve and this makes a massive difference.

So super short blog post about something sensible for a change and you should totally try it if you have time. And it works out super cheap as it was pretty much all left overs I found lying around!

ps I need ideas for what to blog about so if you want to help me then I’m on Twitter.

Method (for those of you that want a bit more detail…)

Chop red onion into small cubes and transfer with 2 finely chopped cherry tomatoes to a hot saucepan with some oil. Fry for around 2 or 3 minutes or until the onion has softened. Throw in the cherry tomatoes still on the vine and add 1/2 glass water, 1/2 glass wine and bring to a light simmer. Add a stock cube. Leave on a medium heat for around 10-15 minutes.

Next, transfer this mixture to a sieve over another saucepan and mash through as much of the soup as you can. Place this saucepan over a low heat and add 2 tsp of grated Parmesan cheese and heat through for around 3 mins or until the cheese has dissolved. Serve with a garnish of your choice eg chopped basil or a dash double cream.