Soup made with tomatoes from the garden.

(Em português)

Tomatoes are love shaped as vegetables, of that I am sure.

They might be a pretty fresh food, when used in raw salads, as well as they might be comfort food, when grilled, baked, marinated, cooked, transformed in sauce...

And when they in the garden by the bunch? When, in warm weather, we can pick a bowl full of tomatoes every day?

Then it is too much love for one person only. I took advantage of this one afternoon when the rain managed to lower the temperature a bit and made a soup out of them to share with my family.

Since these tomatoes from my mother's garden are somewhat acid, I complemented the soup with sweet potatoes, to balance the flavor. And considering how juicy they are, I refused to add any water.

1 3/4kg tomatoes (I believe that would be equivalent to some 8 or 9 cups full of chopped tomatoes. By the way, I don't know what is the name of the variety I used. Their shape is very much like that of Italian tomatoes, but they are much smaller; intense in flavor, a bit acid and a bit sweet. Make yourself comfortable to use whatever kind you prefer/ have on hand).

1 red onion

1 small white onion

5 large cloves of garlic

Olive oil and butter, to sauté 

1 large sweet potato (let's say it weighted about 600g?)

Chopped parsley, red pepper flakes, black pepper to sprinkle when serving, and olive oil

Salt to taste

(Cup measure: 240ml)

I washed the tomatoes in running water and cut them in 4, lengthwise. I set them aside.

Then I smashed the garlic cloves against my cutting board, with the help of a large, wide-bladed knife, and chopped them to obtain small pieces. I also cut the onions into small squares.

In a large and wide pan I sautéed the onions and garlic over low heat in olive oil and butter (more or less one tablespoon each). I let it sauté slowly in the lidded pan, stirring now and then, until the onion turned transparent and really soft.

I raised the temperature to the maximum and added all of the tomato to the pan, stirring constantly for 1 or 2 minutes, until it stated to wilt. 

I lowered the temperature and lidded the pan again, so the tomatoes would release their juice. I let them remain like that for about 30 minutes, stirring sometimes.

When this time passed, I put the sweet potato in the pan too, diced small, and let it cook the same way the tomatoes were cooking, until it was tender.

To this point, the whole thing seems more like a sauce than like a soup, because it's chunky.

So I took out 2 1/2 cups of the pan's content and processed in the blender until smooth.

I returned it to the pan, salted, and let simmer for 5 minutes more before serving. 

I served the finely chopped parsley, the pepper and olive oil aside, so each one could season their soup however they liked.

For a complete meal, it's nice to serve this soup with a pouched egg and some salad.

Serves 3 people.

PS: the pictures illustrating this post are by my mom. Many thanks, darling.