I made a huge vat of this to sell at a Bonfire Night fundraising event at my children’s school this week. Nobody seemed to be put off by seeing the word “vegan” boldly displayed on the sign; lots of people – children and adults – told us how much they liked it; and we ran out of soup long before we ran out of customers (next year I’ll be making twice as much!).

What gives this soup its broad appeal is that it is completely free of the “bits” that put so many young children so detest. The potato lends it a slight creaminess while the carrots balance out the sharpness of the tomatoes and contribute to the soup’s cheerful orange colour, not dissimilar to the quintessential cream of tomato produced by a certain well-known brand.

The quantities given are approximate, simply because the precise proportions don’t matter too much here. You’ll also need a blender* and a sieve.

Ingredients

A large potato, roughly chopped,

2 carrots, chopped

1 onion, peeled and chopped

1 stick of celery, cut in half so that it will fit in your pan..

1 or 2 dried porcini mushrooms

1 kg of fresh tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes)

1 clove of garlic, peeled

olive oil

A handful of fresh basil leaves

Salt/a little brown sugar to taste.

Method

  1. Rinse the cherry tomatoes and put them in a baking tray. Drizzle with a little olive oil, add the garlic clove (leave it whole) and pop them in the oven on a low temperature (Fan 150) for around half an hour.
  2. Meanwhile, put a little olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan and add the onions. Cook on a lowish-heat until the onions start to soften, stirring often to make sure they don’t stick to the pan. Then add the potatoes and carrot and keep stirring for another couple of minutes.
  3. Turn the heat up to medium and add the celery stick and the dried mushrooms and top up with hot water from the kettle until the vegetables are covered with water. Allow to simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Then use a slotted spoon to fish out the celery sticks and discard them.
  4. Transfer the rest of the contents of the pan to the blender and whizz until smooth. (I used my Kenwood blender for this, but alternatively a handheld immersion blender will probably do the trick for this quantity). Then transfer the contents back into your soup pan.
  5. By this time your tomatoes should be ready for you. There’ll be some liquid swilling around at the bottom of the baking tray; be careful not to spill it as you transfer the tomatoes and the liquid to your blender, add the fresh basil leaves and blitz them as smooth as you can get them.
  6. Rest a sieve securely on top of the soup pan, and carefully start to pour the blitzed tomatoes into the sieve a little at a time. Use a wooden spoon to encourage the soup to drip down through the sieve into the pan below and keep topping up with the blitzed tomatoes from the blender until you are left with just the tomato seeds and little bits of skin in the sieve (you can throw this away), and lovely smooth soup in the pan below.
  7. Stir the soup thoroughly to mix the two parts together, add salt and/or a teaspoon of dark brown sugar, to taste. Reheat gently when you’re ready to serve it.

Suitable for freezing, batch cooking, and serving to fussy toddlers or large crowds.

 

*if you don’t have a blender, try this recipe instead for a different way of achieving a similar result.

 

Creamy Tomato & Basil: a crowd-pleasing classic
 
I made a huge vat of this to sell at a Bonfire Night fundraising event at my children's school this week. Nobody seemed to be put off by seeing the word "vegan" boldly displayed on the sign; lots of people - children and adults - told us how much they liked it; and we ran out of soup long before we ran out of customers (next year I'll be making twice as much!). What gives this soup its broad appeal is that it is completely free of the "bits" that put so many young children so detest. The potato lends it a slight creaminess while the carrots balance out the sharpness of the tomatoes and contribute to the soup's cheerful orange colour, not dissimilar to the quintessential cream of tomato produced by a certain well-known brand. The quantities given are approximate, simply because the precise proportions don't matter too much here. You'll also need a blender* and a sieve.
Author:
Recipe type: soup, tomato,
Ingredients
  • A large potato, roughly chopped,
  • 2 carrots, chopped
  • 1 onion, peeled and chopped
  • 1 stick of celery, cut in half so that it will fit in your pan..
  • 1 or 2 dried porcini mushrooms
  • 1 kg of fresh tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes)
  • 1 clove of garlic, peeled
  • olive oil
  • A handful of fresh basil leaves
  • Salt/a little brown sugar to taste.
Instructions
  1. Rinse the cherry tomatoes and put them in a baking tray. Drizzle with a little olive oil, add the garlic clove (leave it whole) and pop them in the oven on a low temperature (Fan 150) for around half an hour.
  2. Meanwhile, put a little olive oil in the bottom of a saucepan and add the onions. Cook on a lowish-heat until the onions start to soften, stirring often to make sure they don't stick to the pan. Then add the potatoes and carrot and keep stirring for another couple of minutes.
  3. Turn the heat up to medium and add the celery stick and the dried mushrooms and top up with hot water from the kettle until the vegetables are covered with water. Allow to simmer until the potatoes and carrots are tender. Then use a slotted spoon to fish out the celery sticks and discard them.
  4. Transfer the rest of the contents of the pan to the blender and whizz until smooth. (I used my Kenwood blender for this, but alternatively a handheld immersion blender will probably do the trick for this quantity). Then transfer the contents back into your soup pan.
  5. By this time your tomatoes should be ready for you. There'll be some liquid swilling around at the bottom of the baking tray; be careful not to spill it as you transfer the tomatoes and the liquid to your blender, add the fresh basil leaves and blitz them as smooth as you can get them.
  6. Rest a sieve securely on top of the soup pan, and carefully start to pour the blitzed tomatoes into the sieve a little at a time. Use a wooden spoon to encourage the soup to drip down through the sieve into the pan below and keep topping up with the blitzed tomatoes from the blender until you are left with just the tomato seeds and little bits of skin in the sieve (you can throw this away), and lovely smooth soup in the pan below.
  7. Stir the soup thoroughly to mix the two parts together, add salt and/or a teaspoon of dark brown sugar, to taste. Reheat gently when you're ready to serve it.
Suitable for freezing, batch cooking, and serving to fussy toddlers or large crowds.
*if you don't have a blender, try this recipe instead for a different way of achieving a similar result.