Cassie’s Ruminations

Tomato Soup

My parents came back from their week out on the Olympic Peninsula bearing many freshly picked blackberries and blueberries for us 🙂 I’ll have to come up with something good to do with them! Since they’d had a late lunch and I had a big lunch at work, and as Shaun is on the other side of the Cascades preparing to take the LSAT tomorrow, we just made a light dinner of homemade tomato soup and some green salad. The tomato soup is very fresh and easy to throw together. In the winter, just use a can (14.5-15 oz) of diced tomatoes.

Tomato Soup
Makes about 3 cups
Serves 3 for a light dinner

1 tbsp butter
6 baby carrots or one regular carrot, diced
1 clove garlic
1 tsp dried basil
1 lb fresh tomatoes, blanched and peeled* and roughly chopped
¼ cup tomato juice (I use Campbell’s Organic)
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
dash cayenne

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the carrot and cook until tender and just starting to brown around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and basil and cook for another
minute or until the garlic is fragrant. Add the tomatoes and tomato juice and the seasonings and simmer for about 5 minutes. Do not let it come to a boil. Puree the soup using either an immersion blender or a regular blender (being careful to hold the top down with a kitchen towel to avoid tomato soup splatters all over the kitchen). Simmer for another 5 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. Serve hot with salad and/or a grilled cheese sandwich.

* To blanch and peel the tomatoes: Cut a little cross mark in the bottom of the skin of each tomato. Boil enough water to cover the tomatoes entirely in water – about 2 quarts for the one pound of tomatoes called for above. Place the tomatoes in a large bowl and pour the boiling water over them. Let sit for 30 seconds, then remove the tomatoes. Let cool (use an ice bath to speed things up if desired). Use a paring knife to remove the skins from the tomatoes.