Saving September...Very Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup

One of my favorite soups is Cream of Tomato.   We grow plenty of tomatoes and soup is a great way to preserve them.

  Look at the beautiful stripes on the Great White Heirloom tomato variety after peeling.  The skin is actually a creamy white but I love the red strip under neath.

As you can see, I had quite a few different varieties of tomatoes on the counter to use up.  The little tomatoes are an heirloom variety called Georgia  Peach that we tried this year.  The funniest thing about them is their fuzzy skin...really it is fuzzy.  The peach tomatoes are quite tasty in spite of their strange skin and a bit off-putting if you are slicing them or eating them raw but soup was the perfect way to use them up.

Here's a real peach on the right of the Peach tomatoes.  You can see the Peach tomatoes are small.  

Cut an X in the blossom end of the tomatoes and put them in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds.  Plunge them into ice water and the skin comes right off.

 I peeled these with my fingers.  Easy!

Even the peels are photogenic.

This is our favorite tomato soup.  I made two batches; one using just green tomatoes and one batch using the red tomatoes.  Both soups taste the same.  I swirled them together with a bit of Creme Fraiche.
The Creme Fraiche design reminds me of fall leaves just a bit.  That was a happy accident.

Update:  The green tomato soup is made with ripe green heirloom tomatoes, not unripened red ones.  I think I failed to make that clear.  

This soup is great without the swirls and different colors.  I usually just throw all colors of tomatoes in the pot and serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches.  I also often thin the soup with milk and leave out the egg.  The egg and cream add richness but the flavor of the tomatoes stands alone and the milk doesn't dilute the tomato flavor or add calories.
This soup freezes well; I add the milk (or egg if using) when I heat it up.  I have bags of it in the freezer for quick suppers.

Its a great way to Save September.

Very Fresh Cream of Tomato Soup

12 ripe tomatoes, peeled and cut up             

1 cup of chicken stock or water                            

1 cup of chopped celery                     

½ cup of onion, diced                       

¼ cup of minced fresh Italian parsley           

3 Tab. of cornstarch

3 Tab. of butter, melted

2 Tab. of brown sugar

2 tsp. of salt

2 cups of light cream

1 egg yolk, beaten

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Simmer tomatoes, water, celery, onion, and parsley for 30 minutes. Puree and strain.

Mix together butter and cornstarch.  Stir into soup and let simmer over medium heat until thickened slightly.

Add brown sugar, salt and pepper. (Freeze, if desired, at this point.) 

When you are ready to serve, stir the cream and egg into the hot soup and warm.

Makes about 2 quarts.