Tomato and Basil Soup

December 30, 2013

By Anna Varriano

I love the combination of tomatoes and basil. Today, I enjoyed this combo as a soup. Mmmmm! This recipe made approximately 8 cups of soup. I grow lots of tomatoes in my vegetable garden so that I can freeze them and have them on hand all winter long to make delicious soups like this one, as well as adding them to other dishes.

What You’ll Need

  • 4-5 big, ripe tomatoes
  • 2-3 average sized carrots
  • 2 medium onions
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic
  • 4 cups of chicken broth
  • A small bunch of fresh basil
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • Toasted pine nuts
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil

Step 1: Prep

IMG_1939Slice the carrots, coarsely dice the onion, mince the garlic and set aside. Wash the tomatoes ,coarsely chop them up, and set them aside (separate from the veggies you just prepped). You should end up with about 4 cups of chopped up tomatoes. Some of my tomatoes were pretty watery, so I gently squeezed some of the watery-seed-gel out while I was cutting them up.

Step 2: Cooking

IMG_1941Add 2 TBSP of olive oil to a large saucepan, then add the sliced carrots, coarsely diced onion, and chopped up garlic. Sautee ingredients over medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until onions just start to brown.

IMG_1947…Thought you would enjoy this cute little round carrot that got left behind….OK….next step….

Step 3: Cooking

IMG_1946Add the tomatoes to the pot with the onions, carrots, and garlic. Add 4 cups of organic chicken stock and 1 tsp of unrefined sea salt. Stir it all together and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer with the lid on for 10 to 15 minutes.

IMG_1957Turn off the heat, take the pot off the heat, and stir in a handful of basil…or more or less, depending on your love of basil. If you don’t like basil (gasp!) you can omit this step. Put the lid back on and let the soup sit for 10 or 15 minutes to infuse the basil flavour into the soup and to let it cool a bit before putting it into the blender. Once the soup has cooled off enough to be blender-friendly, pour into a blender and puree until completely smooth and creamy.

Step 4: Serving

IMG_1965Return the soup to the pot and warm up to the desired temperature for serving. Note that this soup will freeze beautifully if you don’t finish it all! To serve, I topped the soup with more basil (some fresh leaves cut into thin strips and some whole ones) and toasted pine nuts. A bit of a pesto-inspired topping. Be creative with your toppings. I bet it would taste great topped with fresh chives and goat cheese! If you try this recipe, let me know how you liked it…and what you used as ‘sprinkles’!

 

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