Tomato Soup

Red, red, delicious and provoking red. What's better than a delicious red tomato soup? So easy to make, full of vitamins, healthy and filling, and above all: dellliiicciouss!

Not much to add to introduce you to one of the easiest soup recipes I've ever made (except chicken-ginger soup). All you need are some tomatoes, tomato paste for that extra rich texture, some herbs and sour cream. If you want you can add some Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese, I prefer Mozzarella, and some fresh basil leaves to decorate. Lovely!

Ingredients: (4 servings)

• 5 or 6 big red tomatoes (around 1 kg - 2 lbs)
• 8 - 10 Tbsp Tomato paste
• 1 leek (chopped)
• 1/2 red Paprika (diced)
• 1 Tbsp Olive oil
• 4 - 6 tsp sour cream
• 1 ball Mozzarella cheese (diced)
• Salt, pepper, garlic for seasoning
• Your preferred herbs: Parsley, Cilantro (or Coriander leaves), Oregano and/or Basil (I used all!)
• 1/2 to 1 lt. water

Preparation:

Cut the tomatoes in quarters (cut in halves and then again in halves). Cut the paprika in dices.

In a sauce pan, heat the Olive oil, and add the chopped leek and the paprika. Stir until leek is softened.

Add the tomatoes and mix all well. Then add 2 or 3 glasses of water and stir well. Cover the sauce pan with a lid and let it boil for 5 to 10 minutes.

When you notice the tomatoes are soft, add the tomato paste and mix everything well. Add more water if needed or if you want a lighter soup.

Add the seasoning to your taste. If the soup its slightly sour, you can add 2 tsp sugar and mix. Cover with the lid and let it boil and cook for 5 more minutes. You will notice the soup is ready when you see the tomatoes almost dissolving and the soup begins to get more creamy.

Remove from the heat. Add the chopped herbs. At this point you can decide to serve it as it is (with some bigger pieces of tomato and paprika) or you can make a smooth cream using your blender, but please be careful with hot liquids! (better if you have a Stab-mixer, if not, blend by portions and never forget to cover your normal blender!)

Serve and decorate with fresh basil, sour cream and mozzarella.

Enjoy!

Goulash

Cold days have arrived to stay for long weeks. Last saturday was very cold and snowing here in Schleswig. We decided to go later that day, to the local Christmas market in the old Convent beside the XII c. Cathedral, but before to get some warmth and eat something special, we cooked one of the traditional dishes in Germany for cold days: Goulash.

Though Goulash is not german, it is indeed an hungarian recipe, it is known and loved by all the central european countries, mostly precisely here in Germany. I guess there is not a single german that doesn't like it. At least I have not met the first!

So here it is our home made recipe for Goulash, given to my husband from his mom. Delicious!

Ingredients:

• 500 gr Good quality lean Beef meat (1/2 to 1 inch dices) (avoid too much fat as much as possible)
• 200 gr Onion (chopped)
• 2 Tbsp. Paprika powder (sweet paprika)
• 2 Tbsp. Concentrated Tomato paste
• 150 gr. Sour Cream
• 1 Tbsp. Corn Starch or Flour (if you want a thicker sauce)
• 1Tbsp Oil
• 1 Tbsp margarine
• Salz
• Fresh grounded Pepper

Serving:

• 200 gr. short Pasta
• Fresh Parsley

Preparation:

Have your meat diced and onions previously chopped. In a large sauce pan, add oil and margarine to heat and dissolve. Add the meat in portions and fry them until it is dark brown, remove and add another portion, repeat process until all the meat is fried. In the empty sauce pan, add the onions and fry them until they are half transparent.

Then add the meat again and mix well. Add paprika powder and mix. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Season with some salt and pepper.

Mix everything very well for about 1 or 2 minutes. Then add 300 ml water, mix and let it boil.

Reduce the heat to medium and cover your sauce pan. Let it cook for around 90 minutes. Mix from time to time and rectify seasoning when needed.

10 minutes before finishing, cook the short pasta as you always do. After the 90 minutes passed and the meat is done, add the sour cream and mix well. If the sauce it is still too liquid, dissolve the corn starch or flour in 3 or 4 Tbsp of cold water, then add it to the sauce and mix well and let it boil. Move the souce pan out of the heat and let it rest for 2 minutes.

Wash the fresh Parsley, dry it with a clean cloth or kitchen paper, and chop fine.

In a deep pasta dish, serve the pasta, then add the Goulash, and finish with some fresh chopped parsley on top.

Enjoy!!!

Note: Goulash is a very spicy dish, I have reduced 1 Tbsp the original paprika amount. If you want it more spicy add 1 Tbsp more of paprika and more pepper. For a richer taste add 1 tsp roasted garlic.

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And after we had lunch, we went to the Christmas Market. Here are 2 photos from there: