Recipe - Cream Of Fresh Tomato Soup

3 Mediumsize, very ripe
tomatoes
1 small Onion, finely chopped (1/4
cup)
One half cup Finely chopped celery
1 pn Sugar (optional)
3 Whole cloves
1 small Bay leaf
3 tablespoon Butter
3 tablespoon Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
3 cup Milk

1. Peel and chop tomatoes; combine with onion, celery, sugar(if used),
cloves and bay leaf in a mediumsize saucepan. Bring to boiling;lower heat;
cover and simmer 15 minutes.

2. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Stir in flour and salt;cook 1 minute;
stir in milk. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and
bubbles, 2 minutes; keep warm.

3. Puree tomato mixture through sieve or food mill. Stir puree slowly into
sauce. Heat but don't boil. Serve with croutons, if you wish. Posted to
MCRecipe Digest V1 #535 by hister@juno.com (Iris E. Dunaway) on Mar 22,
1997