-ONION AND TOMATO SOUP-

Piero Amodio, owner of the Coffee Gallery, near the British Museum in London, is a particularly brilliant source of ideas for soups. This is based on another of his recipes, although it is somewhat different from the original. Like Onion and Courgette Quiche, the soup depends on frying the onions to just the right shade of brown.

Serve with crusty bread. For 3.

- INGREDIENTS-

4 oz/125 g butter beans, soaked overnight in cold water

Salt

11/2 Ib1750 g onions

1 Ib/500 g ripe tomatoes

2 tablespoons oil Pepper

2 tablespoons tomato puree

Small saucepan with a lid

Wok or large saucepan

- METHOD-

I Drain, rinse and pick over the beans. Put into the small saucepan with quite a lot of fresh water (do not add salt) and bring to the boil. Skim, boil fast for 5 minutes, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Add a little salt and continue to simmer for 5-10 more minutes or until just tender. Drain over a bowl; keep the cooking liquor.

2 Peel the onions and slice them into fine rings. Peel and chop the tomatoes.

WHEN YOU'RE REALLY BROKE

3 Fry the onions in the oil over low heat in the wok or large saucepan for 25-35 minutes or until an even mid-brown: stir every now and again for the first 20 minutes and constantly for the last 5-15 minutes. You can speed them up by raising the heat a little towards the end. Add the tomatoes, season fairly generously with salt and pepper and simmer for 7-10 minutes, pressing the flesh against the bottom of the pan until Iiquified. Stir in the tomato puree. Make up the bean liquor to I pint! 600 ml with cold water and add to the wok or pan with the beans. Simmer for 20 minutes.