Irish Tomato Soup Recipes

CREAMY IRISH POTATO SOUP

Steps:

• Heat the butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and celery and cook until tender.
• Stir the broth, 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper and potatoes in the saucepan and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
• Place half of the broth mixture and half of the milk in a blender or food processor. Cover and blend until smooth. Repeat with the remaining broth mixture and remaining milk. Return to the saucepan and heat through.

IRISH POTATO SOUP

Steps:

• Place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate, crumble, and set aside.
• Cook and stir onion and celery in the remaining bacon grease over medium heat until the onion is translucent and tender. Drain excess grease, then stir in potatoes. Add water to cover all but 1 inch of the potatoes. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to medium-low, and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes, stirring often. Stir in the evaporated milk, and continue cooking until warmed through. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in bacon just before serving.

IRISH ROOT SOUP

Steps:

• Melt the butter in a large stockpot over medium heat; cook and stir the onion, leeks, garlic, and celery in the melted butter until tender, about 10 minutes.
• Pour 4 cups vegetable stock into the stockpot; add the potatoes. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook the mixture at a simmer 20 minutes.
• Divide the stock mixture into 3 batches with equal amounts of liquid and vegetables; set aside to cool for 30 minutes.
• Pour 1 batch of the stock mixture into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway. Hold the blender lid firmly in place and carefully start the blender; use a few quick pulses to get the mixture moving before leaving it on to puree. Repeat process with second batch. Return the pureed batches to the stockpot.
• Divide third batch into two equal batches. Puree only one of the two batches before returning both to the stockpot.
• Bring 1 cup vegetable stock to a simmer in a small pot over medium-low heat. Cook the carrots in the simmering stock until soft, 5 to 7 minutes; add to the puree in the stockpot.
• Stir the green onion and heavy cream through the puree; continue cooking another 5 minutes.
• Season with salt and pepper; top with Cheddar cheese to serve.

TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• Firstly, prepare your vegetables. You need 1-1.25kg/2lb 4oz-2lb 12oz ripe tomatoes. If the tomatoes are on their vines, pull them off. The green stalky bits should come off at the same time, but if they don't, just pull or twist them off afterwards. Throw the vines and green bits away and wash the tomatoes. Now cut each tomato into quarters and slice off any hard cores (they don't soften during cooking and you'd get hard bits in the soup at the end). Peel 1 medium onion and 1 small carrot and chop them into small pieces. Chop 1 celery stick roughly the same size.
• Spoon 2 tbsp olive oil into a large heavy-based pan and heat it over a low heat. Hold your hand over the pan until you can feel the heat rising from the oil, then tip in the onion, carrot and celery and mix them together with a wooden spoon. Still with the heat low, cook the vegetables until they're soft and faintly coloured. This should take about 10 minutes and you should stir them two or three times so they cook evenly and don't stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Holding the tube over the pan, squirt in about 2 tsp of tomato purée, then stir it around so it turns the vegetables red. Shoot the tomatoes in off the chopping board, sprinkle in a good pinch of sugar and grind in a little black pepper. Tear 2 bay leaves into a few pieces and throw them into the pan. Stir to mix everything together, put the lid on the pan and let the tomatoes stew over a low heat for 10 minutes until they shrink down in the pan and their juices flow nicely. From time to time, give the pan a good shake - this will keep everything well mixed.
• Slowly pour in the 1.2 litres/ 2 pints of hot stock (made with boiling water and 4 rounded tsp bouillon powder or 2 stock cubes), stirring at the same time to mix it with the vegetables. Turn up the heat as high as it will go and wait until everything is bubbling, then turn the heat down to low again and put the lid back on the pan. Cook gently for 25 minutes, stirring a couple of times. At the end of cooking the tomatoes will have broken down and be very slushy looking.
• Remove the pan from the heat, take the lid off and stand back for a few seconds or so while the steam escapes, then fish out the pieces of bay leaf and throw them away. Ladle the soup into your blender until it's about three-quarters full, fit the lid on tightly and turn the machine on full. Blitz until the soup's smooth (stop the machine and lift the lid to check after about 30 seconds), then pour the puréed soup into a large bowl. Repeat with the soup that's left in the pan. (The soup may now be frozen for up to 3 months. Defrost before reheating.)
• Pour the puréed soup back into the pan and reheat it over a medium heat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until you can see bubbles breaking gently on the surface. Taste a spoonful and add a pinch or two of salt if you think the soup needs it, plus more pepper and sugar if you like. If the colour's not a deep enough red for you, plop in another teaspoon of tomato purée and stir until it dissolves. Ladle into bowls and serve. Or sieve and serve chilled with some cream swirled in. For other serving suggestions, see opposite.

IRISH BLUE CHEESE AND TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425. Rub a bit of olive oil on your hands and coat each of the tomato halves. place them cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast the tomatoes in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and chop the tomatoes roughly in a food processor or by hand.
• In the bottom of your soup pot cook the bacon over low heat until it's crisp. Remove to a plate and cover with a paper towel. Reserve a tablespoon of the bacon fat to cook the vegetables.
• Add the onion, celery and carrots to the soup pot and cook stirring occasionally for 1 - 2 minutes, until the onion is translucent. Stir in the flour and mix well until it's completely incorporated with the veggies in the pot. Pour in the heated stock and stir well until the stock thickens slightly and the vegetables are soft.
• Crumble the cheese into the pot and add the chopped tomatoes. Bring the soup to a boil stirring to help melt the cheese. Remove the pot from heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup until smooth. (Or let the soup cool slightly and process in batches in a blender or food processor; then return the soup to the pot.). Cook until the soup is hot but not yet at the simmer.
• Roughly chop the bacon.Serve the soup in individual bowls,, topped with bacon. Sprinkle the black pepper and chopped parsley if desired.

FRESH TOMATO SOUP

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, cook onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour to form a smooth paste. Gradually add water, stirring constantly until thickened. Add the tomatoes, parsley, salt, sugar, thyme, bay leaf and pepper; bring to a boil. , Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until tomatoes are tender. Discard bay leaf.