Schnelle Tomatencremesuppe (quick creamy tomato soup)

Method

1. Melt the butter in a 4 litre pot over medium heat and sweat the onion and garlic with a pinch of salt for 5 minutes, until soft.
2. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 1 minute, until it darkens slightly.
3. Add the canned tomatoes, broth and sugar. Bring to a simmer, then turn down until it barely bubbles.
4. Simmer 10 minutes, uncovered, just to let the flavours settle. This is a quick soup; it does not need longer.
5. Blend until completely smooth, in batches in a blender if working by hand.
6. Stir in the cream and most of the basil, then season with salt and pepper.
7. Serve with the remaining basil scattered over each bowl at the table.

Method in the Thermomix

Written for a TM5 or TM6, 2.2 litre bowl.

1. Garlic into the dry bowl. Chop 3 sec / speed 6. Add the onion, roughly chopped, and chop 4 sec / speed 5.
2. Add the butter. Sauté 5 min / 120 °C / speed 1, measuring cup off, until soft.
3. Add the tomato paste. Sauté 1 min / 120 °C / speed 1, measuring cup off, until it darkens.
4. Add the canned tomatoes, broth and sugar. Cook 10 min / 100 °C / speed 1, measuring cup off.
5. Blend until silky, working up gradually to 1 min / speed 9.
6. Add the cream and most of the basil, salt and pepper. Mix 10 sec / speed 3. Taste through the lid and correct, then serve with the remaining basil over each bowl.

Notes

• Do not skip cooking the tomato paste. One minute in fat before the liquid goes in deepens the flavour noticeably; added raw, it tastes flat and slightly metallic.
• The sugar is there to balance, not to sweeten. Canned tomatoes vary in acidity, so taste before adding more; some brands need none at all.
• Add the basil at the very end, off the heat. Cooked into the pot for any length of time, it turns dark and loses most of its fragrance.
• It keeps for 3 days in the fridge and freezes well without the cream, which is best stirred in fresh after reheating.

Ingredient substitutions

• Cream can be crème fraîche for a slight tang, or left out for a lighter, dairy-free soup that still works well with the tomato paste’s depth.
• Fresh basil can be a small handful of fresh parsley if basil is not available, though the flavour shifts noticeably away from Italian.
• Canned tomatoes as whole peeled, blended along with everything else, work just as well as chopped.
• For a spiced version, add a pinch of chili flakes with the tomato paste, and swap the basil for a swirl of pesto at the end instead.