Growing up in the 1980s, all you needed to make a bowl of tomato soup was a tin opener and a new whizz bang thing called a microwave. No self-respecting household was without a few cans of Heinz Cream of Tomato Soup lurking at the back of the larder, especially one that was expected to feed four hungry boys at a moment’s notice!
For many years, I associated tomato soup with tinned processed food and low expectations for the tastebuds. So when in the mid-2000s a friend served up homemade tomato soup after a winter morning on a north Sydney beach, I was pretty surprised to discover how good tomato soup can taste when made from scratch.
True to form, I asked for (and received) the recipe, and have cooked it regularly ever since, although I have since discovered its origin might have been closely associated with a well known dieting outfit. But it is too simple and too good to let that get in way.
Perhaps the best thing about this recipe is that you just roughly chop all the veg and chuck everything in a pan, cook it for 20 minutes and blend it. Nothing more. Yes you can cook the root vegetables first, roast the tomatoes or add a twist of something fancy sounding, but at the end of the day, this is a quick, very cheap, and healthy soup and shouldn’t be fussy.
I’ve shared the recipe many times over the years and am always amazed a the number of people who still make this almost 20 years later!
Every Day Tomato Soup
Ingredients
- 800 grams tinned tomatoes ((2 tins))
- 1 large onion (roughly chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
- 2 carrots (peeled and roughly chopped)
- 2 sticks celery (roughly chopped)
- 2 zucchini (roughly chopped)
- 1 litre vegetable stock
- Some herbs if you have any spare (roughly chopped)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Parmesan cheese (grated)
Instructions
- Place everything in saucepan (except the Parmesan cheese).
- Bring to boil and simmer for 20 mins.
- Blend with a stick blender.
- Garnish with parmesan cheese and serve with some crusty bread.
