Creamy Tomato Soup
Olive oil and/or butter for cooking
1 white onion sliced
2 cans chopped tomatoes
1 ½ tsp garlic and ginger purée 2 leeks, chopped (white part) 1 tbs white vinegar
1 tbs Demerara sugar (or white)
½ cup cream (double or single) 2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 cup vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Garlic croutons:
5 slices wholemeal or seeded bread, cut into 1cm squares 2 tsp olive oil
125g melted butter
2 tsp mixed dried herbs
1 tsp garlic and ginger purée
Crispy leek garnish:
Green part of the left over leeks Oil for frying
Salt
To make the soup, put the onion, garlic and ginger, carrots, leeks and oil and butter (if using) into a pan on medium heat for 2 minutes, stirring regularly.
Add the vegetable stock and simmer for a further 2 minutes to soften the vegetables. Then add the chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove from the stove and blend.
Return to the stove and add the vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper along with the cream, simmer for 10 minutes and sieve to take out all the seeds and pulp.
Again return to the stove to simmer.
For the garlic croutons, place the diced bread into a baking tray.
Put the butter, oil, herbs, ginger and garlic into a bowl and mix together.
Pour this over the bread and use your hands to make sure all the bread is coated and all the liquid has been soaked up by the bread.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes at 180°C until golden brown and crisp.
The crispy leek garnish uses the leek ends saved from the soup. Shred the leeks so you end up with thin long stingy pieces and wash thoroughly.
Fry in shallow or deep oil until browned. Put them onto a kitchen towel to drain the oil and sprinkle with salt.
To serve, add the soup to a bowl with a little extra cream. Start at the centre and pour slowly in a spiral working outwards.
Now take a toothpick and starting at the centre, again draw the toothpick through in a straight line toward the outside of the bowl.
This should pull the cream slightly.
Work your way around the bowl. You should end up with a spider web effect.
Now place a few croutons in the centre and crispy leeks on top.