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Fresh Tomato Soup

Tomato soup has to be one of my favorite things to enjoy on a cold day with a nice grilled cheese sandwich. It's just a classic soup that is surprisingly easy to make and incredibly delicious. The key thing for this soup, the most important thing, is to start off with great tomatoes. Ripe tomatoes give this soup a light, fresh taste and make it irresistibly delicious.
This soup comes together in just an hour: you start by skinning the tomatoes, then cooking the main components, then add stock or water, let it cook, and blend. There's not a lot of active time, making this a super easy recipe to throw together for lunch.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Course: Lunch
Calories: 90
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 12 cups water divided
  • 1 cup ice
  • 2 cups water/stock chicken or vegetable
  • 4 tomatoes large, beefsteak or other
  • 2 carrots medium
  • 1 onion yellow/white
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1/4 tsp dried basil
  • 1 tbsp fresh chopped basil
  • 2-3 tbsp heavy cream optional
  • additional basil for garnish

Method
 

Skinning the Tomatoes:
  1. In a small pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil. You need enough water to submerge the tomatoes.
  2. Prepare the ice bath on the side by combining the remaining water and the ice.
  3. Score the tomatoes by cutting an X shape on the tomato with a knife. Your goal is to go mostly just through the skin, as this will help it peel off later.
  4. Starting with one tomato, drop it into the boiling water for about 30-45 seconds, until the skin starts to peel away.
  5. Immediately, transfer it to an ice bath to stop the cooking. Repeat with the other tomatoes.
  6. Take the tomatoes out of the ice bath and peel the skin off with your hands. It should come off easily. Chop the tomatoes into rough chunks.
For the soup:
  1. Roughly dice the carrot and onion. In a large pot (in which you will make the soup) or in a separate cast iron/nonstick pan, heat the olive oil.
  2. Add the roughly diced carrot and onion and cook down for a few minutes until the onion starts to become translucent. Mince the garlic and add it as well as the tomatoes. Cook for 5 more minutes.
  3. Add the dried and fresh basil, salt, and pepper. Transfer the mix into your large pot if necessary and pour in the water/stock of choice. Bring it to a simmer and let it cook, covered, for about 40-45 minutes.
  4. Using a blender or immersion blender (stick blender), blend the soup until smooth (in batches if necessary). Optionally, add the cream.
  5. Serve the soup hot and garnish with additional cream and fresh basil. Enjoy!

Notes

  • Macros: 3.6 g fat, 13.1 g carbohydrates, 2 g protein
  • See blog post for more detailed instructions, including notes about how to skin the tomatoes, how to find ripe tomatoes, and other tips for enjoying this soup.