KL and I agree on a lot of things. We have similar tastes in music, and books, and – this is the pertinent part – we both love a good bowl of soup. So when I went over to her place last week, I came with the ingredients for a tomato soup recipe I’ve been wanting to try. Also wine, because that’s important. KL & I agree on that, too.
The New York Times ran a piece (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/08/dining/08junk.html) not long ago about the rise of comfort food lunch spots in the Washington, D.C. area, and included the tomato soup recipe. I’ve only ever had canned tomato soup: Campbell’s when I was younger, Muir Glen now that I’m older & all hippy-crunchy-granola concerned about high fructose corn syrup blah. The prospect of homemade tomato soup was appealing, to say the least.
So when I got to KL’s, I took over the kitchen & got to work (KL was sniffly, & we both prefer our soup sans snot). I made a couple of adjustments to the recipe, noted below; my main complaint was that the soup was surprisingly un-fragrant. There’s not a lot that can compete with the scent of a nice pot of soup simmering on the stove, and we didn’t really get that experience with this soup. Still, with all the vitamin C and beta carotene and other good things (and none of the bad things that are in even the best canned soup), I’m not about to quibble.
Homemade Tomato Soup (adapted from The New York Times, who adapted it from Ted’s Bulletin in Washington, D.C.)
Makes 8 (generous) servings.
Ingredients:
½ pound butter
1 pound onions (about 3 medium), cut in ¼ inch dice
½ cup all-purpose flour
4 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
1 ¼ cups chicken broth (I used vegetable)
¼ cup sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon celery salt (I couldn’t find any; I used a 1:1 ratio of celery seed to table salt)
¾ teaspoon pepper
¾ cup half-and-half (I used whipping cream because I had it on hand)
2 tablespoons honey
Method:
1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large pot. Add the onions and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until soft and translucent (about 20 minutes).
2. Add flour and stir until mixture is slightly thickened and pale gold, about 3 minutes. Don’t let the mixture to get too brown.
3. Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, the broth, sugar, kosher salt, celery salt, and pepper. Raise the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot frequently.
4. Stir in the half-and-half and honey. Remove from heat and puree with a hand blender, or allow to cool slightly and puree in batches in a countertop blender. Return to medium heat just until heated through; serve hot.
The Best!!
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