Easy + Delicious Tomato Soup

 

Happy New Year friends! I hope you are warm and healthy and feeling like tackling that pile of Christmas decorations that is sitting on your dining room table. Just me?

Like millions of others, I am trying to eat clean this January and am finding that soups are the quickest, most comforting way to do that. I’m kicking it off with one of our favorites – Tomato Soup.

One of my earliest food memories is coming home from kindergarten and my mom making tomato soup and grilled cheese for me for lunch. As a kid it was one of my favorite lunches and it still has a soft place in my heart. I tried to pass on this love to my kids through the same Campbell’s can of soup that I loved but they weren’t a fan.

Then I made this recipe.

Now they beg for it, and get very excited if I tell them I’m making it for dinner, especially with grilled cheese on the side, but they love it with toast too. On a recent Friday, they even voted for this soup over ordering pizza.

To give you an idea of the flavors, a foodie friend stopped by while I was making it and said, “oh my gosh what smells so good?” I am not the first to tell you that good food often comes from really simple ingredients, and in this case, it is that simple combination of onions, garlic, and tomatoes. Not just any tomatoes though – San Marzano.

I have been buying these huge 5 lb cans of tomatoes for a while now, ever since I started making Smitten Kitchen’s tomato sauce. I triple her recipe, which calls for 28 oz. of San Marzano tomatoes. Fun math: a 5 pound can of tomatoes is 90 oz, ergo we triple the recipe.

I do the same for this soup. Technically this yields 12 servings, but since everyone always has seconds let’s just say it serves 6. Plus the leftovers freeze beautifully. But if you are cooking for one or two, consider using a 28 oz. can and cutting the rest into thirds.

Now we start to get itchy when we use up our last big can since we’ve been making both the sauce and this soup almost every week.

As you may have noticed, with six kids I really need recipes that are easy (read: that I can multitask 5 other things while I am making it), and this one feels so simple but yields that wonderful comfort of homemade food. Now I can’t even remember how I could eat the can stuff.

So go get a giant can of tomatoes or two, chop some onions and garlic, and let your house start to smell amazing.

You’re going to want to add this to your family recipe binders, its a keeper!

Happy Eating, xoxo Katie

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3 medium yellow onion, medium dice
• Kosher salt
• 6 medium garlic cloves, minced
• Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional, I leave it out for little kids)
• 1 (90-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes in their juices, preferably San Marzanos
• 4 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth or water
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Optional garnishes (alone or in combination):

• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Toasted baguette slices
• Grilled cheese (obvi)

Directions:

1. Place a medium saucepan over medium-low heat and add the oil and butter. When the butter melts, add the onion and a big pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is completely soft, about 15 minutes. (Reduce the heat if onions start to look brown). Add the garlic and optional red pepper flakes and cook for 5 minutes more, stirring occasionally.
2. Increase the heat to medium and add the tomatoes and their juices to the pan. Roughly crush the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon and cook until they’re hot and beginning to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the broth or water and bring to a simmer. Cook at a medium simmer until the tomatoes begin to fall apart, about 15 minutes.
3. Remove the soup from the heat and cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup in the pot. (You can also use a countertop blender, but this size pot of soup will require several batches.) Return the soup to the burner over low heat and stir in the cream. Add black pepper, then taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt or pepper as needed. Serve in warmed bowls, as is or topped with the garnishes of your choice.

Recipe adapted from chowhound.com