With summer long gone, the taste of tomatoes has gone to pot, so to speak. Winter tomatoes are watery and tasteless, with the texture of cardboard. But, if you've been clever enough to preserve the bounty of your seasonal home garden, that sweet rich taste is at your fingertips.

No need to despair if you haven't got your own preserves though, good quality tinned tomatoes are always available, but it must be said, when it comes down to it, the Italians have tinned tomatoes down pat.

Aside from all the obvious pasta sauces one can make from them, a quick, dead simple way to have the taste of summer in the colder months is to make tomato soup with all the ingredients straight from the pantry. There's not a lot of effort involved but it's loaded with flavour and is happy enough to be made with any decent store bought stock, though homemade is always hard to beat.

Easy Tomato Soup

(serves 4)

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
pinch of chilli flakes - optional
1 litre chicken stock
800g tinned tomatoes - whole plum tomatoes are best
salt & fresh ground pepper

In a large pot, add the olive oil, chopped onion and garlic then gently fry, stirring occasionally just until the onion starts to turn golden, add the chilli flakes if using and fry for a minute more. Add the chicken stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Liquidize the soup with a stick blender or in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Reheat and serve piping hot.