• 50 g/2 oz butter
• 1 level tablespoon castor sugar
• 1 small onion
• 675 g/1½ lb fresh tomatoes
• a scant litre/1½ pints chicken stock
• salt and freshly milled pepper
• 1 medium-sized carrot
• 1 level tablespoon flour
• ½ cucumber
• single cream

Melt half the butter in a large saucepan. Add the peeled and diced carrot and finely chopped onion. Cover and cook gently for 5 minutes until the onion is soft. Halve the tomatoes and add to the pan, re-cover and fry gently for 15 minutes to soften the tomatoes and extract the juice.

Stir in the stock, a good seasoning of salt and freshly milled pepper and the sugar. Bring to the boil, then simmer gently for 1 hour. Draw the pan off the heat and rub the soup through a sieve, pressing through as much of the soft vegetables as possible. Return the strained soup to the pan. Cream the flour with the remaining butter to make a beurre manié then add this a little at a time to the hot soup. Stir over low heat until the soup has thickened and is boiling. Draw off the heat.

Meanwhile peel the cucumber and slice in half lengthways. Discard the seeds and chop the cucumber flesh in small dice Add to a pan of boiling salted water, reboil and simmer for 2 minutes to soften the cucumber and give it a pleasant green colour. Drain and add to the tomato soup. Check seasonings, cool and then chill for several hours.

Just before serving pour in a little single cream but do not stir in.