Tomato soup is a great way to use up a huge bounty of homegrown tomatoes -- this recipe uses fresh vine ripened tomatoes and cooks them all day in your crockpot slow cooker until they burst and slow roast.
After cooking, blend until there are no chunks and stir in a bit of heavy cream. This delicious and velvety soup will rival that from a fancy restaurant!!
Day 242.
I hate tomato soup from the can. I hate it. I think it looks gross, smells gross, and tastes like metal. It also has wheat starch in it for some stupid reason.
Hmm. It looks like I have rather strong feelings about canned tomato soup. I should probably talk to someone about that.
But I can't seem to get enough of fancy restaurant tomato soup. It tastes much different than canned soup---it's both sweet and tangy, and the bit of cream leaves a nice velvet layer on your tongue.
This is a great way to use up a tomato surplus from your garden.
The Ingredients.
serves 4 to 6
3 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes
1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
2 cups tomato juice
1 cup cooking sherry (or regular sherry, or apple juice)
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1 chicken (or vegetable) boullion cube
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
to add later:
--2 cups heavy cream
--salt and pepper to taste
optional:
sour cream and/or Parmesan cheese for garnish
The Directions.
Use a 5-6 quart crockpot for this soup.
Wash all of your tomatoes, and cut them in quarters.
Nope, we're not going to peel the tomatoes, yay!
To save your counter top from tomato gook, put your cutting board on a cookie sheet with sides. The juice will then stay inside the cookie sheet.
Put all the tomatoes in your crockpot.
Chop up the onion, and add it.
Cover with the tomato juice and sherry, and drop in the bouillon cube. Stir in the sugar and chopped basil.
Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
If you'd like your soup to have chunks, go ahead and stir in the cream.
If you'd prefer a chunk-free soup, CAREFULLY use an immersible blender to soupify, or blend in small batches in a traditional blender.
Then stir in the heavy cream.
Eat.
Smile.
The Verdict.
We ate this with some drop biscuits and licked our bowls. My tomato-loving child thought it was a "bit too tomato-y," but ate it and my tomato-hater lapped up tons.
This is an elegant soup, perfect for a starter at a fancy dinner, or to serve with sandwiches at a tea party.
Or you can stand at the counter and eat it directly out of the pot.
I'm excited for lunch.
