Fresh Tomato Soup

This recipe was posted by Caitlin on the Vegfood mailing list - she'd saved it from a post by LeiG on rec.food.recipes. Caitlin adapted LeiG's recipe by leaving out the yogurt garnish; I've changed it as well. The original source was German Cooking, by Malinowski, Sinclair & Nelson.

Don't try making this with tinned tomatoes; it won't be the same! If those are all you've got, try my Tomato & Lentil Soup instead. This one's a lovely, fresh, light soup. Don't be tempted to add stock powder - it's not necessary - but do make sure your tomatoes are nice and ripe.

Makes 500ml (18fl oz, 2¼ cup) (serves 2)

• 500g (18oz) fresh ripe tomatoes (about 6 medium)
• 1 onion
• 2 sticks celery
• 500ml (18fl oz, 2¼ cup) water
• ½ tsp dried basil
• freshly-ground black pepper and salt (or celery salt) to taste

1. Slice the tomatoes into thin wedges (don't bother to peel them). Peel and chop the onion; chop the celery.

2. Place all ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Strain the solids out of the soup, pressing down hard to extract all liquid. Reheat the liquid (put the solids on the compost heap) and serve hot.