Tomato and Sage soup with Apple and Celery

Tomato and Sage soup with Apple and Celery

Serves 3 – 4 people.

In the kitchen the beginning of autumn is the season of soups.
At this time of year there gluts of fruit and vegetables, either in your garden or in the local markets, just waiting to be used!

Soup is great to make in bulk: some to eat now for a delicious lunch and some to freeze in suitable portions for winter time. Paired with some good bread either from the local bakers or made from some of the recipes on our website, soup makes a filling lunch for autumn and winter.

Ways to use up tomatoes is the order of the day for us as autumn approaches! Try this soup either with your own tomatoes or some of the flavoursome varieties now available to buy.

  • Olive oil
  • 2 onions finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic — crushed
  • 3 celery stalks — finely chopped
  • 2 large crisp eating apples — cored and sliced
  • 500 g tomatoes — peeled and quartered
  • 15 sage leaves — rolled into a bundle and finely sliced
  • 500 ml chicken stock
  • 16 more sage leaves for garnish

In a large pan gently fry the onions, garlic and celery in 2 tbs olive oil until softened.
Add the tomatoes, apples and sliced sage leaves, cover and cook gently over a low heat for 45 minutes.
Add the stock (vegetable stock can be used for a vegetarian option) and simmer for another 30 minutes.

When the soup has cooled slightly — you can hurry this up by standing the pan in a sink of cold water! — liquidise the soup until it is smooth. For an extra smooth soup you can now sieve out the tomatoes seeds, which always seem to miss being liquidised, but we find that it is great just as it is.

When you are ready to serve, heat about 1 cm olive oil in your smallest pan and toss in the sage leaves for garnish. Sizzle them until they are crisp — 30 second to a minute — keep an eye on them or they will burn.
Drain the crisp leaves briefly on kitchen paper and sprinkle on soup immediately before serving.