Fresh tomato soup

Preparation

• Peel the skins off the truss tomatoes. Cut them into eights and remove the seeds.
• Finely slice the onion and garlic, then sauté gentle in the oil. 
• Sprinkle the sugar over the tomatoes and fry for 1 minute on high heat.
• Add the stock cube to the water and boil. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and puree the soup with a hand blender. Season with salt and pepper.
• Divide the soup between four bowls and garnish with chopped basil.

The soup is delicious with French bread, spread with garlic butter! 

Tips from the author

Variations: Ginger is a good alternative for seasoning if you want some sweetness, or spice it up with some tabasco sauce. If you'd like, you can add a can of tomato puree or meat balls.

Tips:

• It will be easier to peel the tomatoes if you blanch them in boiling water first. Before you add them to the water, cut an X at the bottom of the tomato - this will give you a starting point to peel the skin off.
• Seeds can also be removed after pureeing by sieving the soup.
• Use some more tomatoes for a thicker soup. Fresh, ripe truss tomatoes are shiny, have a beautiful red colour and the crown looks freshly green. So, use Sunfresh tomatoes!