Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Tomato Basil Soup


I love Tomato Soup paired with a grilled cheese sandwich. It is my favorite comfort food, however, now that I make my own I cannot stomach the stuff out of the can.

Sorry Campbells!

I have been making it the last few years and constantly tweaking the recipe. I think this is the final keeper. I adapted it from one of my favorite chef's, The Barefoot Contessa! I think roasting the tomatoes is the key!

•3 pounds ripe plum tomatoes, cut in half lengthwise (I used ripe Roma's)
•1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil
•1 tablespoon kosher salt
•1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
•2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 onions)
•6 garlic cloves, minced
•2 tablespoons unsalted butter
•1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
•1 (28-ounce) canned plum tomatoes, with their juice
•4 cups fresh basil leaves, cut into a chiffanade (I used only 2 cups)
•1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
•1 quart chicken stock or water (use stock)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss together the tomatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomatoes in 1 layer on a baking sheet and roast for 45 minutes.

In an 8-quart stockpot over medium heat, saute the onions and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the butter, and red pepper flakes for 10 minutes, until the onions start to brown.

Add the canned tomatoes, basil, thyme, and chicken stock. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes, including the liquid on the baking sheet.

Bring to a boil and simmer uncovered for 40 minutes. Pass through a food mill fitted with the coarsest blade, or do what I did and use your immersion blender.

Taste for seasonings. Serve hot or cold.

7 comments:

Bethie said...

Sounds fab! Love both tomato soup and Ina. I have a ton of basil, it is the only thing the deer didn't eat.

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

I know you have to be right about roasting the tomatoes. I'm going to have to give this a try. I'm drooling jsut reading this.

Try roasting tomatoes first the next time you make a cparese salad...it's the bomb!

The Blonde Duck said...

I've always wanted to make this from scratch for Ben.

Mary Bergfeld said...

Roasting the tomatoes makes such a difference in this soup. It looks and sounds delicious. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

The Blonde Duck said...

Have you ever had pudding pie?

grace said...

campbell's simply can't hold a candle to soups put together like this one--it looks and sounds delightful!

test it comm said...

Homemade tomato soup is always the best! It is of course the perfect excuse to enjoy a grilled cheese sandwich as well. :)

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