Classic Tomato Soup

Classic Tomato Soup 

September is turning out to be hectic month for all of us here in Minnieland so I was tempted not to make any soup today. Then I remembered it would take me years to get through The Soup Book if I didn't persevere. I thought about making a courgette soup, but having experienced a surfeit of courgettes while in Devon last month, I put the thought down and backed away. Well, I did check what courgette soup recipes were on offer (two, actually: whipped yogurt soup with sauteed courgette and courgette and potato soup), but moved on.

Doorway to the courgette surfeit in Devon!

Back to Soup No. 83. The introduction to the classic tomato soup recipe states that it's "easy to make from kitchen cupboard ingredients." I thought, "Great!" I read the ingredients list: olive oil, onion, garlic, celery, carrot, potato, canned tomatoes, stock, a bay leaf, sugar and seasoning. "Great!" I thought again, "I won't have to go out." What did I not have? Celery. So, off down to Stephen's (he wasn't there) for celery. Then I strayed further down the road to the better of the two local bakeries for bread and bagels. Home again, and it was lunchtime and no soup made. Not to worry. It was simple enough, even though it involved having to get the food processor out. It tastes better than I expected - quite rich. I think that's because I left the bay leaf in when I liquidised the soup (usually the recipes tell you to take it out).

P.S. I've just remembered that the mother of an old friend of mine used to make tomato soup cake. The secret ingredient? A well known brand of condensed tomato soup. I've just had quick look around on the internet and located several recipes for tomato soup cake, so someone somewhere has been making this cake and sharing the recipe.

Little Buzz

 Bees are thin on the ground, in the air and in my reading these days as autumn sneaks in. I could have dipped into my conveniently placed Collins Beekeeper's Bible, but decided to make a bit more effort. and look for bee references in a poetry book. The spouse has The Ring of Words - An Anthology of Poetry for Children (edited by Roger McGough). I flicked through the anthology and came across A Hot Day by A. S. J. Tessimond. It's a rather grey and overcast afternoon in Dublin but Tessimond's lines below evoke a hot summer's day:

Cotton-wool clouds loiter.

A lawn mower very far

Birrs. Then a bee comes

To a crimson rose and softly,

Deftly and fatly crams

A velvet body in.

In Michael Viney's Eye on Nature column in The Irish Times today there is a query about bees. Apart from that, I am bee-reft of suitable references. Groan.