I grew up with Campbell’s condensed cream of tomato soup next to grilled cheese made with Kraft American slices and WonderBread. I thought it was quite tasty, and I get why people like it. But you can up your game in all dimensions here with better tomatoes, better cheese, and better bread! This recipe is a variation on my Cream of Anything Soup, one of my Mother Dishes. As with all mother dishes, minor tweaks are made to accommodate different star ingredients. Since tomatoes have a higher water content than most vegetables you would use in a cream of anything soup, I increased the amount of tomatoes and decreased the amount of stock.
I like to make this soup with butter, cream and chicken stock. It can be made vegetarian by using vegetable stock in place of chicken stock. It can be made vegan by using olive oil instead of butter and omitting the cream.
Fresh Tomato Cream of Tomato Soup
Equipment
- Stock Pot
- Immersion Blender
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter or olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, 6-8 oz diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 lbs fresh fresh tomatoes cored and roughly chopped
- 2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1-2 oz heavy cream optional
- 1 tsp sugar optional
- Fresh basil as garnish optional
Instructions
- Sauté the onions in the butter or olive oil and ½ tsp of salt over medium-high heat until they are softened and translucent. Expect 5-6 minutes. Stir in the garlic for the final minute or two.
- Add the fresh tomatoes and the stock to the pot. Turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to low, cover the pot, and simmer.
- After about 30 minutes of simmering, use an immersion blender to puree everything into a smooth soup.
- Taste for seasoning and creaminess. Expect to add 1/2 teaspoon or more of salt, unless the stock you used was on the salty side. Also, stir in a few cranks of freshly ground black pepper or white pepper. For a richer mouthfeel, add some cream. If the soup tastes tart after adding the cream, you can add a teaspoon of sugar to soften the acidity.
