When this spicy tomato soup featured on my Instagram Story over 90% of followers wanted me to share the recipe – so here it is! This is from Home Cooking Made Easy by Lorraine Pascale which I use a lot because her recipes are created with simple ingredients, most of which you probably already have in your kitchen. (The bread is also her recipe, I will share this in another posts asap.)
Lorraine’s Hot & Spicy Blood Mary Soup took me around 20 minutes to prepare using stuff I already had at home, then 30 minutes to cook. I swapped out ripe tomatoes for a tin of chopped tomatoes, and I didn’t have any celery so I added some fresh basil. I always have a basil plant in the kitchen because it smells and looks so good.
This recipe is really easy, so it’s nice for every day. With a bit of cream or creme fraiche I think even the kids would like it (minus the spice). However, I think it would be really impressive as a starter at a dinner party as it’s super light and fresh, and the decorative sticks of celery make a bit of a statement, the bright green against the richness of the red soup. That, said it might also be handy to keep leftovers for brunch the next morning in case you’re in need of a healthy hangover cure.
Scroll down for the recipe, let me know if you try it.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large red onion, peeled and sliced (I used white as that’s all I had)
500g ripe tomatoes (about 5 vine or plum tomatoes), roughly chopped (I used 400g tin of chopped tomatoes)
1 litre tomato juice (okay, I bought this in preparation a couple of weeks ago, it keeps for ages so it was fine in the fridge)
3 squirts of tomato puree
1 bay leaf (I didn’t have this)
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
50ml Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp cayenne pepper (depending how spicy you like it)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Several shakes of Tabasco sauce
Vodka, to taste, optional (I left this out)
1 stick of celery, trimmed and cut into batons (I didn’t have any so I added some fresh basil to decorate)
Method:
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes until soft but not coloured. Add the tomatoes, tomato juice and puree, bay leaf, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and finally the cayenne and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat a little to let it bubble away for a good 30 minutes to really get the flavours going.
Taste ht soup and add more seasoning if needed, so it is just as you like it. Remove the bay leaf and discard. Then, working in two or three batches, ladle the soup into a blender and blitz until it is quite smooth but still has a little texture. Pour the blended soup into a large bowl or jug as you go. Once done, return it all to the pan and heat through gently. Add the Tabasco and vodka, if using, and taste again, adjusting the seasoning if necessary.
Ladle the soup into warmed mugs or serving bowls and serve with the celery batons.
