[from seasonal cooking by claire macdonald of MACDONALD] When tomatoes are plentiful and cheaper to buy, even if you don't grow your own, this is a lovely soup. It is good served cold and best made with fresh basil, my favourite of herbs. Serves 6 500g tomatoes 50g butter 2 medium-sized onions, peeled and chopped 1 stick of celery, sliced 1 large potato, peeled and chopped a few strips of orange rind a few sprigs of fresh basil, of 1/2 rounded teaspoon dried basil 700ml chicken stock 150ml fresh orange juice salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 rounded teaspoon sugar 6 Tablespoons single cream

Cut the tomatoes in half---don't bother to skin them, the soup will be
puréed and sieved---but scoop out as many of the seeds as possible. If
left in, they tend to make the soup bitter. Melt the butter in a
saucepan and add the chopped onion, celery and potato. Cook over a
gentle heat for about 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and
transparent. Stir from time to time, to prevent the potato from
sticking.

Add the strips of orange rind to the saucepan, and the halved tomatoes.
If you are using dried basil, add it now, and pour on the chicken stock,
fresh orange juice, salt, pepper and sugar. Bring to simmering point,
and simmer gently for 30 minutes, or until the the pieces of potato are
soft. Remove from the heat, and cool.

Purée the soup in a blender, together with the fresh basil. Taste,
check the seasoning, and sieve the soup into a bowl. Keep it in the
refrigerator until needed, and serve each plateful of soup with a
spoonful of cream swirled into the centre. Serve with Fresh Herb
Scones [although Iain didn't particularly like those scones :p].