Cream of Tomato Soup

[serendipity17]

Two Very Large Heirloom Tomatoes (850 g)
1 large carrot
2 stalks celery
1/2 Very Large Onion (use 250g)
2 pc bacon, medium dice
3 Tbsp flour
enough olive oil
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp shallot powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp garlic mince (dried Penzeys)
salt
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp pepper
more salt
1 can tomato paste, use half.
1 c cream

Dice onion small, cut celery in four pc longways and then 2mm crosscut, cut carrot fine dice. In 10" pan, saute onions translucent, then add celery and carrot and deglaze with water when caramelizing/scorchy. Fry until the carrot is tender. Add more olive oil, stir in flour, fry a bit longer until the flour all hydrates and starts sticking to the pan bottom.

In 4qt pot, cook the bacon, remove bacon and leave fond and fat. Add large-diced tomatoes. Stir to deglaze fond. Add mirepoix, deglaze frypan with plain water, stir all together. Simmer 20 min, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaves. Use the immersion blender to puree the soup. Adjust tomatoey-ness with tomato paste to taste, add more herbs/spices and more salt. Stir in 1 c cream and serve soup. Four LARGE dinner portions; good for dipping chips or toasty sandwiches into.



The other half of the onion can be large-diced, fried to soften, and put on the soup as garnish.