Smoky Spanish Tomato Soup Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan on a medium heat, add the onion, celery and carrot and fry until tender, without turning golden, about 10 mins. Add the bay and garlic, and fry for a minute before adding the tomatoes and stock. Simmer for 10 mins, stirring occasionally.
• Remove the bay leaves, and blend the soup in a liquidiser or with a stick blender until smooth. Season well and add the smoked paprika, sugar and vinegar to balance the soup with sweet, smokiness and a little acidity.
• For the salsa, crush the garlic with a pinch of salt using a pestle and mortar. Halve and deseed the chilli and chop roughly. Add to the mortar with the coriander and olives and bash, gradually adding the oil and vinegar until you have a rough paste (it should be chunky). Mix in the preserved lemon, then stir in the brine from the jar to taste.

Steps:

• In a soup pot, melt the butter in the oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium-high heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the paprika and cook until it gets fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes, water, thyme and bay leaf, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the tomatoes start breaking down, about 15 minutes. Discard the thyme sprig and bay leaf.
• Preheat the broiler. In a blender, puree the soup in batches. Strain the soup back into the pot - pressing on the solids (use a strainer with larger holes. This just separates out the bits of tomato skin/seeds that didn't blend.) Stir in the cream and season with salt and pepper again, to taste.
• Meanwhile, put the baguette slices on a baking sheet and broil 6 inches away from the heat until lightly toasted on both sides, about 2 minutes total. top the toasts with the Gruyere and broil for about 30 seconds more, until the cheese gets bubbly.
• ladle the soup into bowls and serve with the Gruyere toasts. Enjoy!