Fresh Tomato Soup
You can make tomato soup all year round. But when tomatoes are coming fresh out of your garden, or you are gifted with the surfeit of someone else's bounty, nothing is better. As a stand alone meal or with it's forever partner Grilled Cheese, fresh tomato soup makes everybody smile.
This tomato soup uses fresh tomatoes to capitalize on that just-picked flavor. In the wintertime, however, you can feel pretty confident using canned tomatoes. Almost as good! Good quality canned tomatoes shouldn't taste "tinny." They actually contain freshly picked tomatoes that are immediately processed and canned. Better than the grocery store tomatoes that are picked before they are ripe and shipped across the country. So, fresh picked tomatoes are the best, but good quality canned tomatoes will do in a pinch (they are also already peeled).
Fresh tomatoes do not have to be peeled for this soup if you have a good food processor or blender.
I'm more particular about the texture of seeds in my tomato soup, so I process the cooked tomatoes for as long as it takes to get the creamy smoothness that I'm looking for. I find that a food processor or blender with a metal blade is best for this.
Tomato Soup made from scratch! Enhanced with herbs and spices that never overpower that special tomato goodness.
- 2 lb Fresh Tomatoes (Peeled and coarsely chopped)
- 1 oz Butter
- 1 cup Onion (Chopped)
- 1/2 cup Celery (Chopped)
- 3 clove Garlic (Chopped)
- 1/2 tsp Salt (to taste)
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Paprika
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/2 cup Chicken Broth
- 1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar (optional)
- 1/4 cup Half & Half (optional)
- 1 tsp Dried Thyme
- Fresh Basil or Parsley (garnish)
Chop the fresh tomatoes and set aside.
In a medium soup pot, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add onions and celery to the pot and cook over medium heat until translucent.
Add garlic, tomatoes, salt, paprika and thyme to the soup pot and increase heat to medium high.
Once the tomatoes begin to bubble reduce the heat to medium low and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the tomatoes are very soft.
Transfer a safe amount of the tomatoes to your blender/food processor. Process until very smooth and silky. Depending on the size of your machine, you may have to work in batches.
Once the tomato mixture has been pureed, stir in the chicken broth and Worcestershire sauce.
Taste to adjust seasoning, adding Half & Half and apple cider vinegar or more salt as needed.
Garnish each bowl with fresh basil or parsley as desired. Good companion dairy garnishes are Feta, Cheddar and Parmesan cheeses, sour cream or yogurt.