How To Make 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, hard-to-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. Step 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. Step 2:

   Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and stir well.

3. Step 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. Step 4:

   Pour about ½ 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. Step 5:

   Add the sauce to the vegetables in the pan and mix well, followed by the remaining 1½ pints (850 ml) of chicken stock, stirring well again.

6. Step 6:

   Bring to the boil then turn the heat right down, cover with a lid and simmer gently for about half an hour.

7. Step 7:

   Allow the soup to cool then blend in a liquidizer or food processor and season with salt and pepper.

8. 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.