Nom Nom Tomato Basil Soup

This is the easiest tomato soup you've ever made. I know you all make a lot of tomato soup, so I feel totally confident saying that.

I was really craving tomato soup and grilled cheese the other day... and damn that canned stuff just doesn't cut it any more. All I could taste was tin and water. Noooo thanks.

Seriously. 15 minutes. Takes just as long as mixing up the canned stuff and putting it in the micro. Watch me work.

Makes about 2 - 3 servings.


You'll need:
- 3 tablespoons of butter
- 1 1/2 tsp of garlic (minced)
- about 2 - 3 tbsp of flour
- about 2 cups of milk (or, Tina you can use vegetable broth!)
- 1 14 ish oz can of diced maters
- about 10 leaves of basil
- dried oregano
- 1 tbsp sugar
- salt
- pepper

optional: tomato paste

Yeah. 15 minutes. Trust me. I won't steer you wrong.

Ready to get started?

Take your butter and melt it in a pot. Put the heat on medium to medium low.


Toss in your garlic!


Ok, at this point we're going to make what's called a roux. It's basically the base for a lot of sauces and gravies. You just take fat, either butter or meat grease (bacon gravy? hello.), and mix it with some flour. It acts as a thickening agent, and makes things super delish.

So, throw your flour in, and mix it around.

Here's a fun story. The recipe I was kind of using as a guide said to use a cup... A CUP of flour. EFF THAT. Smart sense says just to use a bit.. but noooo... so I ended up with this.


I added in some milk to thin it out and got it down so there weren't any lumps left. No big deal. Use a whisk if that happens to you, it's the easiest way.

OK! After you've dealt with disaster and lived to tell about it, add in your milk and tomatoes. I smooshed them down a bit so they weren't in huge chunks. If you're feeling really motivated you can pulse it smooth in the food processor, or in the blender... but this is me here. I'm lazy. And now I can say it's "rustic". Plus, chunks don't bother me.


Smoosh smoosh.

At this point, add in your salt and pepper, to taste. I like a lot of ground pepper in this. I also threw in some basil, and some dried oregano for a little flavor boost. I add about a tbsp of sugar, just to combat the acidity of the maters, but taste it first, see if you need it.


Now at this point I tasted it and noticed two things. One, too milky. I wanted some ROBUST flavor, baby. So, I added about a half a can of this:



This packs some tomato PUNCH man. It's scrumptious. Optional, but scrumptious. Also, I noticed that the freaking huge amount of flour was doing it's trick, and it was a little too thick for me. One of my biggest pet peeves is when tomato soup tastes like pasta sauce. GROSS. So, I added about a cup of low sodium chicken broth. You can use veggie broth, or just water if you've got nothing on hand. It won't hurt the flavor none.


Now THAT'S what I'm looking for.

Put it in your favorite bowl with a couple of leaves of basil! (I LOVE my new basil plant!)


Looks positively gourmet.



Wait.

Wassat in the background.... hiding there...



AH HA!! Sneaky grilled cheese sandwich. See that wasn't fancy at all, so I couldn't show you I was making it. Kraft singles baby, ain't nothin' wrong with that.

Enjoy!

<3 Courtzilla