CREAM OF TOMATO SOUP (WITHOUT THE CREAM)

This is the cheaper alternative to a regular ‘cream of ’ recipe because
it gives soup the same creamy consistency even though it doesn’t
actually contain any cream. I got this idea from the exceptionally
busy mother of one of my daughter’s friends, who also happens to
be a very good cook, and although she didn’t say where it came
from, I’d guess it was originally a wartime recipe, firstly because
using basic store cupboard ingredients in place of expensive, hardto-
get-hold-of foods was a favourite trick in those days and,
secondly, because it sounds exactly like something my most thrifty
grandmother would have made – and she used to mash odd bits of
soap together and make new lipsticks by melting down old ones …
1 sweet potato
6 carrots
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 tins chopped tomatoes
2 pints (1 litre) chicken stock
1 oz (25 g) butter or margarine (approx)
1 heaped tbsp flour
Salt & pepper
Oil
Method
1. Peel and chop the sweet potato, carrots, onion and garlic; warm
a little oil in a very large saucepan and gently fry the vegetables
for a few minutes until the onion is soft.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and stir well.
3. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a separate (much smaller)
saucepan and stir in the flour, mixing well to make a smooth
paste; cook it out for a minute.
4. Pour about 1⁄2 pint (250 ml or 1 mugful) of the chicken stock
into the pan with the paste and stir or whisk quickly and
continuously for a minute or two to make a smooth sauce.
5. Add the sauce to the vegetables in the pan and mix well,
followed by the remaining 11⁄2 pints (850 ml) of chicken stock,
stirring well again.
6. Bring to the boil then turn the heat right down, cover with a lid
and simmer gently for about half an hour.
7. Allow the soup to cool then blend in a liquidizer or food
processor and season with salt and pepper.
Tip
Wash out empty plastic milk bottles and use them for
freezing home-made stock, soups and sauces. Unlike food
bags, they hold their shape and are easier to stack neatly,
and this is a good way of knowing how much stock you’ve
got according to the size of the bottle it’s stored in.