The Best Tomato Soup

I've been making Tomato soup for years, and my recipe is constanly evolving. This is how i make it these days. Try to get real broth (not from powder) and try to find long tomatoes not so much the round ones. It is always best to pick them fresh from your own garden !

Ingredients
1 carrot
2 onions
one handful of fresh celery (finely chopped)
one handful of basil leaves
125 ml cream
125 gr bacon
8 tomatoes
0.75 liter of beef broth (or a bit more if you like)

Preparation
- Chop onions, carrot and bacon finely (smalls blocks, 'mirepoix')
- Remove the 'crowns' of the tomatoes and cut away the small white part.
- Blend the tomatoes into a liquid (with a blender i mean). This way you will get the flavours from the peel but you don't end up with noticable pieces of them in the soup.
- Slowly fry the carrot + oinions + bacon for about 5 minutes.
- Add the tomatoes + broth, cook and let it simmer for at least half an hour, while stirring every now and then. If you like a stronger tomato flavour, add a tablespoon of concentrated tomatoes.
- When the soup is turning red and the foam is gone, you're good to go. Usually i cook it a bit longer to stengthen the flavours.
- 5 minutes before serving, add the celery and some salt and pepper if you like.

Upon serving, use a blender for the cream and the basil leaves and place a tablespoon of the mixture in the center of each plate.

Enjoy !