Tomato Soup

Winter has well and truly come here in Mt Eliza, so much so that we have had to replace one fence so far this season! It's also meant that it's soup time! One flavor in particular is very versatile in the kitchen and that's tomato soup.

Believe it or not, you can actually use it for more things than just putting in a pot and serving it with hot toast.

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How To Use

- As a base for meatball sauce (see recipe below)
- Use it as a base for meat sauces i.e. Sloppy Joes, Spaghetti Bolognaise and Swiss Steak
- Use it to replace Passatta
- Bake a cake with it ... truly! Click here for the link to the recipe for Tomato Soup Cake!
- Add it to a beef casserole.
- Add into a Goulash or Stroganoff
- Use as a base for Tomato Pasta Sauces.
- Pasta Bake

MOO
Tomato Soup

Ingredients
4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 slice onion
4 whole cloves
2 cups chicken stock
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar, or to taste

Method
In a stockpot, over medium heat, combine the tomatoes, onion, cloves and chicken stock. 
Bring to a boil, and gently boil for about 20 minutes to blend all of the flavors. 
Remove from heat and run the mixture through a sieve into a large bowl, or pan. 
Discard any stuff left over in the sieve.
In the now empty stockpot, melt the butter over medium heat. 
Stir in the flour to make a roux, cooking until the roux is a medium brown. 
Gradually whisk in a bit of the tomato mixture, so that no lumps form, then stir in the rest. 
Season with sugar and salt, and adjust to taste.

Italian Meatballs

Ingredients
500g mince beef
1 egg
1/3 cup of white rice
1 tsp beef stock
1 tin of tomato soup
1 tin of diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon dried Oregano
1 chopped onion
1 cup of water

Method
In a casserole dish combine soup, tomatoes, onion, water and oregano.
Combine other ingredients in a bowl and form into meatballs about the size of a walnut.
Place meatballs into sauce.
Cover and cook in a fan forced oven for 1 hour on 180C.
Serve with pasta of choice and topped with grated Parmesan.

Hint: To get more vegetables into your family add grated carrot and zucchini to the sauce.