Tomato Soup ~ Comfort Food Series

One of my favorite television shows to watch when I'm feeling like being a creative chef is Everyday Italian on the Food Network hosted by Giada De Laurentiis!!  She has a way of making all the recipes she demonstrates seem achievable and absolutely scrumptious to boot!!

The other day she made a homemade Tomato Soup.  The only drawback of this show is that you have to really pay attention or DVR it because there is no written recipe to accompany any of the shows (that I know of). 

Tonight I thought I would try my hand at re-creating the soup she made on an earlier episode this month.  This is how I did it, may not be exactly like hers, but I must say it turned out pretty darn good and my hubby ate three bowls and raved about it!! 

(This is what my final version looked like...along with a yummy grilled cheese sandwich)

So here's my take on her  "recipe"

1 24 oz can crushed tomatoes (for my friend Jackie, you can use canned tomatoes, it may take a jar and a half or even two and you should probably run them through the blender or use a potato masher to "smush" them)

2 carrots - peeled and chopped into small rounds (or as in my case I used about 9 baby peeled carrots)

1 white onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 carton stock (vegetable or chicken, I used chicken)

3 T butter

I will also make it a point to say that I did not have to add ANY seasonings whatsoever and it was absolutely perfect, just the right amt of everything all by itself!!

Using a large stock pot, start melting your butter.  Add your chopped onion and garlic to simmer.  Let them simmer for about 8 - 10 minutes on med low. 

Add carrots and let simmer/saute for another five minutes.  Add your whole carton of stock and your canned tomatoes.  Turn your heat up to med high and let simmer for at least thirty minutes, stirring often.  Stir with a wooden spoon.  It will thicken up quite a bit.

  She had an "immersion blender" and used it at the end to immerse in her soup and chop up/blend in the carrots and onions etc.  I do not own one, so I just got out my strainer and strained the soup into a large serving bowl and let the leftover tomatoes/onions etc stay in the strainer. (Technically if you really wanted to you could empty this into a blender and chop it all up really quickly and it would do the same thing)  It was really really delish and really pretty simple to do.  I think it would make a great base for spaghetti sauces etc....I will be experimenting in the following weeks to see what else I can come up with and possibly start canning some soup/ spaghetti sauces!!

Happy Cooking!!

If you have any categories of foods that you would like to see some new recipes for please leave me a comment and let me know!!

Thanks for popping in!! :)