At the height of the season, and even after my family together is crazy: Mom cooks acute adjika grandmother - tomato sauce, I'm experimenting in his "creative workshop" with dishes of the Mediterranean. Tomatoes are good in all its forms - such is their nature. However, to find the "right" tomatoes in our time is not so easy. Especially the village. They have a special flavor, filled with light roughness, and can be seen on the palate balanced acidity. They are significantly different from the imported counterparts and those who grew up in the greenhouse. But, do not let the bad news.
I believe that the end result, ie, on a dish, one way or another will affect the original quality of the product. If you buy good tomatoes, any idea will exceed expectations. By "good" I mean tomatoes with beautiful skin, pleasant flavor ripeness, absence of spots of rot, questionable darkening cracks. Never trust a variety of tomato seller. No-coh-yes. Only the personal touch of their hands and give the desired product desired result. Seller who wants to quickly get rid of his impending stone product, always ready to slip into the package something substandard. Then these tomatoes are suitable only for fast processing or for Tomatina - tomato fight, which suits hot Spaniards on the streets of Buñol.
Until the middle of autumn can often be found oblong tomatoes ("cream"). They are not as watery and quite fragrant. A couple of days ago I was able to buy tomatoes in this class, I wanted to make one soup with velvet texture.
For tomato puree soup you will need:
- 1 kg of tomatoes (preferably oblong, but fit and others);
- half bell pepper (seeded and washed in running water);
- small onion;
- small head of garlic (do not clean it from the husk and is not divided into segments - all we need);
- piece of fresh hot peppers (size - 1-2 cm);
- 3 sprigs of parsley;
- 1 bay leaf;
- 6 basil leaves (I love green because of its flavor, but also nice purple);
- 100-150 ml olive oil Extra virgin;
- 150 ml of boiling water;
- 1 hr. L. salt (no slides);
- 1 hr. L. sugar (no slides);
- 3 sprigs of thyme;
- black pepper, dried oregano - to taste.
Wash tomatoes and cut them into large chunks, add in a deep skillet or saucepan. For this dish I take aluminum cookware, it will not be burnt tomatoes to the bottom. Cut into thin strips prepared half pepper, onion cleaned, cut in half, add all to tomatoes. In the same pan together send the remaining ingredients - a slice of hot pepper (you can not cut), crude head of garlic, thyme sprigs, washed and obsushennuyu greens, dried oregano and black pepper.
Add to the pan with the vegetables boiled water and olive oil, put it on low heat, covered lid. After boiling tomato mass necessary to briefly open the lid, add a teaspoon of salt and sugar (no slides) and then cover with a lid next soup. Do not forget to stir the dish so that it cooked evenly. The soup should be prepared to simmer for a long time, I wait until the tomatoes soften completely and give the juice dish.
When you notice that the tomatoes began to resemble a homogeneous mass, remove from the pan sprigs of thyme, clove of garlic, bay leaf, and the remains of the green - they are no longer needed. Remove the pan from the heat and using a blender turn tomatoes in puree. Be very careful not to burn. After this procedure, return the saucepan over low heat and bring the soup to a boil (do not cover the pan with a lid!). Once it begins to boil, turn off the oven and let the dish while on vacation.
Before serving, I always strain the soup through a fine sieve to remove seeds and tough tomato peel. Do not be lazy, do the same - the only way you will get a velvet texture.
Ladle the soup into bowls, add to each bit of olive oil, herbs and black pepper. A good companion for servings of tomato soup puree is the dried croutons or toast in the oven with parmesan. I love this dish for versatility and simplicity: it can be eaten hot or cold, and cooking - a pleasure!