Creamy Tomato Soup

There is a comfort element to tomato soup. This recipe will taste like you slaved away in the kitchen for the day but really only takes 45 minutes to simmer on the stove. I throw this together frequently as a quick lunch and serve it with slabs of homemade bread. Yesterday, my husband got solitude time in the woods to cut some fallen trees into rounds and this was a hearty lunch when he came back. My father in law and I also needed a hearty lunch because we had spent the morning with the 17 month old who was unfortunately ill. She took comfort in the dog.

Creamy Tomato Soup (roughly $3.02/batch)

(serves 6-8)

1 inch of ginger

2 cloves of garlic

2 TBS olive oil

4 TBS chopped fresh basil or 2 TBS dried basil

1 lg can crushed tomatoes (1 lb) 1.09

1 lg can tomato puree (1 lb) .95

2 cups broth (I used chicken but you can use veggie for a vegetarian version of this soup.)

1 cup cream (I used light cream but have used whipping cream in the past.) .70

3 TBS butter (.75/stick=8 TBS) .28

salt & pepper to taste

1. In a stockpot, heat up 2 TBS olive oil. Add the minced ginger & garlic and stir for about 2 minutes with a rubber spatula until light brown. For a ginger mincing trick check out my ginger post. Add the basil & give it a quick stir. 

2. Add the two cans of tomatoes. I've found the key to getting a great texture in the soup is to use both puree and crushed. Stir in the two cups of broth. Let it simmer on medium low for 20 minutes. I cover it in case it splatters a little. (The blocks in my picture are the frozen chopped basil I used.)

3. Add the cream and the butter (cut into TBS's). Stir gently to melt the butter. Let simmer for 20 more minutes so that the flavors marry. This is a good time to season with salt & pepper to your taste. 

Dish out and enjoy!