Lactosefree Cooking: Best Tomatosoup Ever

We really like soup. Really really like soup! Especially with this cold weather, there is nothing more delicious than a steaming cup of soup to warm your hands with. Over the years we have learnt several recipes to make soup from scratch, and it is so much better than soup from a can or a bag. Lots and lots better, more flavours, more bite. Absolutely love homemade soup! Most of time we have leftovers and it is great to put it in the freezer for another occasion.

This is the only soup Little Man will eat. If we have an other type of soup he wil dip a bit of bread in it, but this is really his favorite. He absolutely loves it. He empties his bowl to the last drop!

Making the soup will take some time, about 45 minutes to an hour. It is absolutely worth the effort.

So, here is the recipe!

Tomato soup from scratch


Serves 4 adults (about 6-7 bowls)
 
You'll need:
1 kg fresh tomatoes
1 liter of water
1 little can of tomato paste (70 grams)
2 onions
2-3 parts of garlic
3 bouillon tablets ( garden herbs) (broth tablets is the right translation I think!)
250 grams of soup meat balls
1/2 cup (or as much as you wish) vermicelli
laurel leaves
kitchen herbs
all purpose flour
fresh parsley (optional)

2 pans (one big, one small)
immersion hand blender

(We always eat french bread and camembert with soup)

Preparation

Take the small pan, fill halfway with water and bring to a boil.

Take your tomatoes and make a cross with a knife in the skin of the tomato. You want to remove all the skin so that the whole tomato will become soft for the soup.

Put your tomatoes for about 20-30 in the boiling water or until the skin becomes loose.

Remove tomatoes from the boiling water, remove skin and cut into pieces. Do not throw away the water when you are finished!

Pour about two tablespoons of olive oil in the big pan and put in your pieces of garlic and onion (cut into little pieces). Stir and fry. Empty the can of tomato paste into the pan, stir well. Take a tablespoon and add three tablespoons of all purpose flour into the tomato paste, stirring well after each tablespoon. You will get a thick gooey tomato paste/garlic/onion mixture.

With the water you used for the tomatoes, measure 1 litre in a measuring jug and add the three bouillon tablets, stir. Pour in about 400 ml into the big pan in little bits, stirring after each addition. You will get a nice tomato sauce with no flour clumps. Put in the cut up tomatoes and the rest of the bouillon. If you want a thinner soup add about 1.5 litre. Put in two laurel leaves and a bit of your kitchen herbs, as much as you like!

Cover the soup, bring to a boil and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

Remove laurel leaves and use your immersion blender to chop up all the pieces and make a nice soup.

Add the meatballs and vermicelli (and a bit of snipped fresh parsley if you like), bring the soup to a boil again and let it simmer for another 15 minutes. During that time heat up the oven and put in your french bread.

After these 15 minutes, serve your steaming soup in a nice bowl. Divide the french bread and enjoy with a nice piece of camembert or another type of cheese.

Bon Appetit!