If you’re looking for a crowd-pleaser on a rainy day, look no further than this classic recipe for Tomato Soup. I didn’t like tomato soup as a kid, but about two years ago I found this recipe in a magazine and decided to give my adult taste buds a spin. The result: an newfound addiction. Since then, I’ve been making tomato soup on a regular basis, tweaking it to suit my tastes and have come up with a creamy, tomato-y version that is loaded with herby flavor.
Like 99% of the things I cook, this one is super, super easy. Start with canned, whole, peeled tomatoes. Mash them up by hand and add them to your pot.
Then add butter, onion, and a bit of sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook about 40 minutes or until the sauce is reduced a bit. At this point, the soup—with just those four ingredients—will smell amazing and you’ll want to dive right in. Go ahead! When we’re pressed for time, or just hungry, we sometimes eat this “sauce” as-is with some bread.
Freezing the Base
If you are making a large batch for freezing (my recipe is for six large servings), this is where you stop and store up your sauce base in a gallon freezer bag or two, and put in the freezer for later.
When the sauce has been reduced a bit, it’s time to add the rest of the ingredients. Start by discarding the bits of onion. Next, add a little heavy whipping cream, chicken broth, and tomato paste. Stir, and add fresh thyme and dried oregano. Add salt and pepper to taste.
You can use a masher (as shown below) to mix the soup. This results in a chunkier and redder texture.
If you want a smoother texture, use an immersion blender. Using an immersion blender makes the soup a little lighter in color, but you get a really silky texture. The remaining photos illustrate what that looks like.
Serve it hot with crackers or buttered toast. I like serving it with sourdough that’s been toasted with a little cheddar cheese on top. It’s nothing short of divine.
You can also top this soup with a little bit of pancetta, chopped bacon, or hard-boiled egg. Sometimes I add a little dollop of sour cream. Toppings are great, but don’t add too much “stuff” on top so that the flavor of the soup is masked.
I’ve made Tomato Soup a few times already: once for my mother-in-law over the Thanksgiving holiday, and a few times more recently now that wet weather is in full swing. Bring on the cold, wet weather!
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Ingredients
- 2 28 oz cans whole, peeled tomatoes in juice
- 1 14 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes in juice
- 2 medium yellow onions peeled and quartered
- 3/4 cup 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter, any kind
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- Salt and pepper to taste
- optional bacon crumbles or pancetta for topping
- optional sour cream or creme fraiche
- optional croutons
Instructions
- Crush tomatoes by hand and add to a 6 quart Dutch oven, including juice
- Add butter, onions, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium low.
- Cook for about 45 minutes until the sauce is slightly reduced. You can set this sauce base aside to freeze if you choose.
- To the sauce base, add the herbs, tomato paste, heavy cream, and chicken broth. Add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for about 15 minutes more.
- Remove the onions and discard.
- Using either a hand-held masher or immersion blender, adjust the texture to your liking. A hand-held masher will leave the soup a little more chunkier. The immersion blender will make the soup lighter in color and creamier.
- Serve hot and topped with extra toppings (bacon, sour cream, croutons) to your liking.
(Recipe adapted from Saveur.)
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