So, to my complete delight, our little garden is completely exploding over here and I am getting so antsy for all of the delicious recipes we’ll be creating with our harvest. We wayyy over did it with tomato plants, and as of this morning, I counted over 70 little guys growing. I know there are more hiding deep inside the jungle plants too, oops! I’ve always wanted to learn how to can tomatoes and my mom inherited all of my grandma’s equipment so maybe it’s due time I learn! She use to make this bloody mary mix – I can still taste it… yum.
Anyway, I wanted to share a really quick and easy recipe that I made a couple weeks ago when it wasn’t so hot hot hot outside. Most of these ingredients are currently growing just outside my window so you better believe I’ll be making it again soon. We paired this with grilled cheese and it was approved by the entire family.
Quick side note (seems unrelated but stay with me): You know in school when they ask you those stupid ice breaker questions: “What is something no one knows about you?” “Or what makes you unique?” Well, I always struggled with what to say, but I think I finally realized what my “unique thing” is. I love to chop vegetables. LOL! I can’t believe I just typed that sentence out. But it’s completely true. Give me a chef’s knife and a pile of veggies and I LOVE chopping, dicing, slicing and julienning, I am officially a cooking geek, right? Anywayyyyyy – on to the recipe. 😛
What You Need
- 7-8 large tomatoes (beefsteak are great, or I always love romas but you’d need a few extras because they are smaller) *Tip: generally I buy what’s in season because you can’t beat the freshness! Chop these up – skins and all
- 1 medium onion
- 1 tsp garlic
- 1 handful of fresh basil
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 6 cups of water
In a large stock pot, sauté your chopped onion and garlic – about 3-4 minutes or until the onion is translucent. Next, add in your tomatoes, water and salt/pepper. Let simmer for about 30 minutes, which gives the tomatoes plenty of time to break down and get really soft. Roughly chop your basil and add that to the mix.
Now for the fun part – blending! I always use my immersion blender – a gift I received for Christmas a few years back and has been a major player in my kitchen ever since. The one I have comes with attachments including a mixer, measuring cup and food processor – I love it! If you don’t have an immersion blender, that’s totally fine – just carefully transfer your soup mixture to a traditional blender and go from there. I blend until the soup is nice and smooth. If you like it chunky – go for it!
Your soup could be eaten as is – it’s clean delicious and healthy… or you can add a little heavy cream to make it extra velvety. The trick is to add the cream when the soup isn’t boiling – to make sure you don’t get any chunks (chunks = no bueno).
Taste one last time to see if you need more salt or pepper and enjoy! p.s. I would eat this even if it is 90+ degrees outside. Soup girl for life over here.
Have a great night everyone! xo
Staying Martha 