Creme de tomate, cream of tomato soup

Peel the garlic and thinly slice the white onion. Measure the cream and the tomatoes.

Chop the tomatoes with their skin on into little pieces, cutting out and discarding the hard core.

Put the butter, about one or two tablespoons of water and all the onions in a small saucepan.

Cook very slowly for a good 10 to 15 minutes until the onions are completely soft with no colouring, no burn marks and no browning at all; an undercooked onion in a soup releases nothing.

Add the garlic first, then all the tomatoes with the sugar. No salt or pepper goes in here.

Raise the heat to medium and cook uncovered, turning the tomatoes, for a good 10 minutes.

Pour in all the stock and let everything boil for two or three minutes.

Turn the heat off and fish the thyme branches out and discard them.

Pass the soup through the vegetable mill into a bowl, carefully because it is hot; the mill presses the pulp through and holds the skins and seeds back.

Return the milled soup to the cleaned pan and hold it at a simmer.

Whisk one egg yolk together with the cold cream in a bowl.

Pour the simmering, almost boiling soup over the cream and yolk all at once, mixing well for a good minute.

Pour the whole mixture back into the pan and bring it up without boiling, stirring constantly until it starts fuming and thickens slightly; if it boils the yolk cooks into omelette.

Season with salt and white pepper, and stir in a little extra fresh chopped tomato for colour and chunkiness.

Optionally pass it through a fine mesh sieve over another dish before serving.