Soups and Stews Recipes - Tomato and Bacon Soup Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 small onions

• 1 kg/2 1/4 lb tomatoes

• 1-2 cloves garlic

• 80 g/3 oz streaky bacon

• 40 g/1 1/2 oz (6 tablespoons) flour

• 750 ml/1 1/4 pints (3 1/2 cups) beef stock (broth)

• salt

• freshly ground pepper

• paprika pepper

• chopped thyme

• 100 ml/3 1/2 fl oz (1/2cup) cream

• a few leaves of basil as garnish

Serves 4

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Method:

1. Peel the onions and chop finely. Peel the tomatoes, cut into quarters and remove the seeds. Peel and press the cloves of garlic.

2. Cut the bacon into small dice and melt in a pan. Add the chopped onion and sweat until transparent.

3. Sprinkle the flour on top and brown lightly. Add the tomato pieces to the pan and braise briefly. Pour the beef stock (broth) over all.

4. Season the soup with salt, pepper, paprika, thyme and garlic. Cover and simmer on a low heat for 15 minutes.

5. Beat the cream until semi-stiff. Strain the soup through a sieve and return to the pan.

6. Reheat and season again. Pour into bowls and garnish with a spoonful of cream and basil leaves.

Note: This rich, nourishing soup tastes best when prepared with very ripe beef tomatoes. In winter, these can be replaced by canned tomatoes. In that case it will not be necessary to strain the soup; it can simply be pureed with a hand-mixer.