Tomato Soup

It's a week into August and the tomatoes are ripening.  Looking at my counter covered with beautiful tomatoes, I wondered what else I could make with them.  I've already canned bruschetta and chili sauce (that turned out really good, btw).  Then it hit me, tomato soup!  Campbell's does it.  My kiddos love it.  Why not?

I turned out soooo good.  I used fresh basil from my friends garden and tomatoes from mine.  Yum.  The recipe is supposed to make 6 quarts, but everyone was home and it was lunch time.  2 quarts gone.

We don't regret it.

At all.

PoppaH made grilled cheese to go with the soup (it's a classic for a reason) and we all chowed down.

Tomato Soup

makes 6 quarts

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

4 Tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

1/2 cup flour

1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

3/4 cup fresh basil, chopped (loosely packed)

7 cups chicken or vegetable broth

14 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped (they are supposed to be peeled, but I don't peel tomatoes - it might be against my religion, idk.)

3-5 teaspoons salt

3-4 Tablespoons honey

freshly ground black pepper
Bottled Lemon juice

In a large stock pot, melt butter and add oil and chopped onion.  Cook until the onion is tender, about 5 minutes.  Stir in flour and tomato paste and cook another minute or so.  Add chopped basil, broth and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender (seriously, you have to get one of those things, they're fantastic) or transfer your soup to your blender in batches until it is a smooth as you like it.  Trust me, get the immersion blender.

With the pureed soup in the stock pot, season it with salt, pepper and honey, tasting as you go.  

If you are using vegetable broth, add 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice to each quart jar.  This adjusts the acidity of the tomatoes so it is safe to can with a boiling water bath. Once it is perfect, transfer the soup to hot, sterile quart jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space.  Wipe rims and top with hot lids and rings.  Place the jars in a hot water bath for 25 minutes.

If you are using chicken stock, you will need to pressure can this to according to the directions of your pressure canner for chicken broth.

I like to add a little half and half or milk to the soup when I open up a jar and heat it up.  It makes it go further and really tastes good.

Or you can invite over a lot of people to eat it up all at once.  Or you can divide the recipe - you knew you would need to use your math skills eventually.