Slow cooker tomato soup

Tomato soup has quickly become one of my favorite dishes to make. Whether its summer or winter, this soup always tastes delicious. It's fairly simple to make, and you just need a few ingredients, which is always a bonus. 

Tomato soup is popular in a wide rage of countries, so I would almost consider this a "global dish". Don't confuse this soup with Spanish gazpacho, which is a cold soup made with tomatoes and red bell pepper, along with other ingredients. In the future I'll try to make a gazpacho post, but today let's focus on this yummy tomato soup.

Ingredients:

• 1,5 kg of pear tomatoes.
• 1 onion
• 1 celery
• 300 ml of water
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil
• Italian seasoning
• 1 teaspoon of concentrated tomato (optional).
• 1 teaspoon of sugar (to avoid the soup being too acid). 

Servings: 3-4

Cooking time: 4 hours

Temperature: High

Preparation time: between 20 to 40 minutes, depending on how quick you are peeling tomatoes.

Peel and dice your tomatoes and put them inside your slow cooker. You don't need to dice them too small. 

Peel and dice you onion and celery.  Sometimes I don't put celery if my nearby grocery store didn't have any left (or if I forget to buy it, which has happened) and I don't really think it makes a major different in taste, but it probably adds extra nutrients. 

Add one teaspoon of sugar, to avoid the soup getting too acid. I do like to put half teaspoon halfway through peeling the tomatoes, and the other half at the end, as I feel it will spread more evenly. I've heard that some people use baking soda to avoid tomatoes going acid, but I've never tried it myself. If you do so, let me know in the comment section. 

Add some salt, pepper and your favorite seasoning. I use Provence seasoning/Italian seasoning, but anything that works with pasta should work. Because I used some sugar I put a bit more salt that I usually would.

Add a drizzle of olive oil. I like to put some concentrated tomato to intensify the color a bit, but this is completely optional. I use the one that comes in a tube, it's more expensive than the one that comes in a can, but it also lasts longer once opened. 

Stir the pot, so all the ingredients mix together.

Add 300ml of water and cook for 4 hours in high. If you find that the flavor is too intense, try adding more water next time. 

After 4 hours, this is what we have. I wish you could smell it through the screen!

Now it's time to blend our soup. I personally prefer to put it into a separate pot, trying to remove as much water as possible, because I prefer a thicker consistency. However, if you prefer a liquid consistency, pour the whole thing or just blend it directly on your slow cooker. 

You can serve it with some fried or toasted bread. You can either make it yourself or use the ones that are available in the supermarket. 

And here we have our soup. So yummy!

Lately I've been making this soup quite often. When the weather is cold, it's quite comforting to eat a warm soup. Plus, after all the feasting during the Holidays, eating something lightweight did benefit us. 

Hope you guys enjoyed my very first recipe. Since it was my first time writing a recipe, I wanted to start with something simple. Let me know if you found the instructions clear, or what can I improve. 

So what do you guys think of this soup? Are you going to make it? Let me know in the comment section. 

M.C

Check out all of my Slow Cooker recipes.