Fresh doesn't have to be best

I have to confess to a little substitution in my completion of the tomato soup recipe (p90). With tomatoes out of season and ridiculously expensive, there was no way I was going to buy fresh ones, just so I could blanch, skin, chop and cook them into soup. Nope, canned tomatoes are a fraction of the cost, and are pretty much the same as blanched and skinned ones.

With a can of tomatoes at the ready, I began my soup, beginning by frying up some chopped onion and celery, then adding the chopped tomatoes along with tomato paste, chicken stock and seasoning. When this mixture was close to boiling, I took it off the heat and blitzed it in the food processor.

And that's that: soup done. I ladled myself out a bowl, added a dollop of sour cream, and sat down to eat it. I clearly hadn't processed the soup for long enough, because it was still quite lumpy (I've since returned the remaining soup to the processor and given it a more thorough blitzing). Also, the sour cream, instead of melting and adding creaminess, seemed to separate into clumps resembling cottage cheese as I stirred it through the soup.

Despite these minor negatives, the tomato soup tasted alright. A bit salty perhaps - I should have seasoned to taste instead of simply following the quantities in the recipe - but otherwise, a perfectly good, quick and easy winter soup.