Vegetable soup with mint pesto

Ingredients
Bay leaves - 4
Tomato purée -  5 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp
White wine vinegar- 2 tbsp
Tomatoes -  400g (chopped)
Passata - 500g
Vegetable stock - 3 cubes
Whole milk - 400ml
Olive oil -3 tbsp
Onions - 2 (chopped  
Celery sticks - 2 (chopped)
Carrots-300g  (chopped)
Potatoes - 500g

Method
Put the oil, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes and bay leaves in a big casserole dish, or two saucepans. Fry gently until the onions are softened – about 10-15 mins. Fill the kettle and boil it.

Stir in the tomato purée, sugar, vinegar, chopped tomatoes and passata, then crumble in the stock cubes.

Add 1 litre boiling water and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 15 mins until the potato is tender, then remove the bay leaves.

Purée with a stick blender (or ladle into a blender in batches) until very smooth. Season to taste and add a pinch more sugar if it needs it.

The soup can now be cooled and chilled for up to 2 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.

To serve, reheat the soup, stirring in the milk – try not to let it boil. Serve in small bowls for the children with cheesy sausage rolls then later in bowls for the adults as Hot Bloody Mary soup...