Tomato soup Italian style without cream

It’s a matter of fact: Italians love the tomatoes (tometo, tomato: say in the way you prefer!), we love to use them to make ragù, sauces and for pizza. And we are also starting to use the tomatoes for soups even if we’re still at the early stage. The tomato soup is, in fact, still something to be discovered in Italy but people are starting to make it at home or at the restaurants and the consumers’ answers are unbelievable.

This tomato soup recipe is thought to be eaten hot during winter and, even if in Italy there are no tomatoes in winter, we import them from other countries and this allows us to cook with tomatoes all year round; clearly if you’ve seasonal tomatoes it’s even better but if the imported tomatoes are good, why don’t you use them?

Here’s my very Italian tomato soup: imagine to eat it in front of the Colosseum or on the Amalfi Coast and everything will have a lot more sense.

What you need for 4 portions of hot tomato soup
1/2 kg of red tomatoes
1/2 red onion
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 liter of hot water
2 bay leaves
Black pepper
Salt
Basil, coriander, parsley

How to make the hot tomato soup
1. Cut the tomatoes in half, peel the carrots and wash the celery stalk. Put all the vegetables (the skinned onion included) in a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, season with sea salt and bake at 160° for about 1 hour or until the tomatoes are wilted and both the carrot and the celery are soft .
2. Remove the pan from the oven and with a teaspoon remove the seeds from the tomatoes putting aside both the pulp and the peel.
3. Boil 1/2 liter of water and in the meantime blend the tomatoes (leave 2 of them aside), the carrot, the celery and the onion to get a puree. Pour the puree into a pot and heat over low heat, adding hot water as needed and based on how much liquid you want your soup. Almost at the end of cooking. salt and season with a few bay leaves also adding two teaspoons of olive oil and stirring well.
4. Remove from heat, serve adding black pepper, a few bits of tomato and green (basil, parsley, coriander, etc). Serve immediately with or without bread.

Preparation time: 1.5 hours

Advices to make a creamy tomato soup without adding cream

1. Use extra virgin olive oil to moisturize your soup;
2. Mix some breadcrumbs in the soup and blend everything together;
3. Add the water a little at a time to avoid the so-called sea effect.

[Foto di Giuseppe]