All the leaves are brown, the sky is gray, and it’s time to make this easy and cheap, delicious and chunky tomato soup. Nothing fancy. Just a very good soup.
1. Chop up two cloves of garlic. Using garlic salt is simply not acceptable. So. The real thing, please?
2. Take 1/2 of a large onion. Or a whole smaller one. You get the picture. Now chop, chop, chop!
3. Add one good sip of olive oil into a large pan. Heat it up and put in the garlic first, and then shortly after the chopped onions as well. Brown the mix for 5 minutes or so.
4. Open a large can of diced tomatoes. Or two normal sized cans. Add it to the pan. Fill the can 3/4 full of water, and add that too.
5. Bring the soup to boil, and let it simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes while you spice it up with some pepper, salt, and about two tea spoons of sugar. How much sugar depends on how sweet the tomatoes are, though.
6. This could be when you would put the soup into a blender to make it smooth. You’re not going to do that. Why? Well, it’s messy. You might not even have a blender (like me). Most importantly; no one will believe you when you say it’s homemade soup. It will simply look too fancy. That it tastes fancy is something we’ll just have to live with. So let’s leave the soup nice and chunky, shall we?
7. Some minutes before the soup is ready to serve, you can chop up some fresh basil to sprinkle over it. Dry basil is OK too.
If you like, you could add some chopped up red chili to make the soup hot and spicy, or add cream or milk to make it creamier, a bit richer and with less tomato taste. Or do a little bit of both. In the soup I just made for myself, I added some balsamic vinegar and a bit of yogurt when serving. There are no rules here. Just soup. Now go make your own version!
If you need some visual aid, this could be helpful, though:
This little poster is something I made as an assignment for class to get to know InDesign a bit better. I considered the target audience for this to be my mother, but am thinking it might work for others as well. You see, my Mom is the one who always asks me about this recipe. However, it’s been a while since the last time she asked, and I’m not sure whether it is because she forgot that this is a part of her kitchen repertoire, or if she actually has learned the recipe by heart now. By printing and hanging this pdf on the fridge, however, both Mom and I will remember to make this soup more often. Which is a good thing, because every time I make it, it’s just so much better than I imagined it to be. Yum.
Its a great soup Kristin. It always surprises me that so few people make tomato soup.
Here is a variation to your soup.
Replace the box of tomatoes with really old tomatoes you forgot about, even some old peppers can be added. Remove seeds and chop roughly. Throw in a chopped potato and follow the rest of the recipe.
Replace the basil with grated Parmesan and let it melt in the soup.
Oooh! Parmesan :D I like your thinking. And definitely do agree that swapping canned tomatoes with the real thing is a good idea. However, when I want soup NOW, I prefer the canned version.
True it’s quicker, and the tomatoes have a rich flavor when they come from a tin. The other is a good alternative for all the vegs you forgot at the bottom of the fridge or drawer. Even students do that sometimes.
I think you should wish for a stick mixer for Xmas. It’s rougher than a blender. But sometimes i feel like smoothing the edges of a dish just a little.