January 13, 2010

January 13: Tomato Basil Soup. Yum!


Another picture at our dining table in Southern France. We spent many, many nights with friends around this table, and one of our favorite things to serve (in the winter) was soup.

Fresh Tomato Basil Soup

This soup is especially lovely with homemade garlic-olive oil croutons and a dollop of crème fraiche or sour cream.

½ red onion, chopped finely
6 cloves garlic, pressed
1 Tbs. Olive oil
4 cups fresh Roma tomatoes, chopped (Or you can use two cans of canned, chopped plum
tomatoes . . . just be sure they are uncooked, not stewed.)
1 ½ cup chicken broth
¼ cup chopped fresh basil
1 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onion and garlic over medium heat in soup pot until onions are starting to brown, about five minutes. Add tomatoes, broth and basil. Cook over medium heat until tomatoes are cooked through, fifteen minutes. Add cream. Cool soup to room temperature. In batches, puree soup in blender. (To eliminate the cooling step, puree the hot soup with a hand held blender.) Return soup to pan and add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer on low until ready to serve. Serves four.

Conversation starter: Describe the last time you built a snowman.

2 comments:

Sandra Heska King said...

Oh, I LOVE tomato basil soup. The pureeing in batches is a little more work than I would normally undertake, but mmmmmm, I must try!

These conversations starters will be great fun!

I can't remember the last snowman *I* built, but I wish I could post the picture of the little ET snowman my granddaughter built over the holidays!

Mary DeMuth said...

You can use a hand blender and blend it in the pot.

Feel free to use the conversation starters around your dinner table!