Recipe 1.03 - Tomato Soup

I haven't been in New York for very long. I came from Chicago about six months ago to teach in the Bronx, and I basically went from school to graduation to real person job in a split second. Which is one of the reasons why I don't have any kitchen appliances in my new apartment.

Because I took off from Chicago so quickly, I don't actually have kitchen things. The pots I cook with, the cups I drink from, the silverware I use? Those all belong to my roommates. Which is especially sucky because I have trouble believing that I'm an actual person when I don't own anything of my own. So you can imagine how excited I was when I bought my first real kitchen appliance in New York--my immersion blender and how, of course, I now have to make soup for every meal. I had a blender in my apartment in Chicago, but I always hated making soup with it, since you have all this transferring of hot liquids. Not being the most graceful person in the world, this usually ended poorly for me.

So yes, I made soup. Again. And I've made about ten other soups that haven't show up on here yet. And I'll probably make about ten more before I have adequately calmed down from my immersion blender-induced excitement and start making normal things again. Until then, I'll can likely be found looking for yet another way to combine my list of ingredients into a soup and calculating how many years I have to save to try to buy my next kitchen appliance.

Tomato Soup

From Martha Stewart

Makes six cups

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 medium yellow onions, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

24 ounces canned whole plum tomatoes

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

I usually find tomato soup to be really sweet, and I found this recipe to sort of cut down that too-sweet taste that I think tomatoes can sometimes have. However, one of the key things about this recipe is that you have to make sure the onions are completely cooked! I think the amount of onion in this recipe is what makes it great, but they need to be completely translucent or the soup will taste too much like onion.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and stir in the onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is completely translucent but not burning, about 15 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients, and bring mix to a boil. Turn heat to low, and cook until tomatoes are soft, 10-20 minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender, working in batches, or with an immersion blender (aka my precious) until smooth. If soup seems a little thick, you can always stir in some more stock. Serve alone or with grated parmesan cheese.