Cream of Tomato Soup

I'm very excited to write this blog post--almost as excited as I was to make this soup! And use my new kitchen electronic appliance! An immersion hand blender!! Yay! This handy dandy tool is a little blender on a stick. I can use it to puree soups, "whip" up all sorts of delicate things, smoothie up some fruits, and whatever else I want! This was my birthday present to myself. The first thing down was Cream of Tomato Soup from The New Best Recipe cookbook.

The tomato roasting before the soup building began was a bit of a process but well worth it. This soup is delicious!!

Cream of Tomato Soup
Serves 4

2 - 28 oz cans whole tomatoes packed in juice, drained, reserve juice
1 1/2 tbsp dark brown sugar I only had light in the pantry!
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
4 large shallots, minced
1 tbsp tomato paste
pinch ground allspice
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp brandy or dry sherry
salt and cayenne pepper

1. Adjust an oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Seed the tomatoes and spread in a single layer on the foil. Sprinkle evenly with brown sugar. Bake until all the liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes begin to color, about 30 minutes. Let the tomatoes cool slightly, then peel them off the foil; transfer to a small bowl and set aside.

Tomatoes ready for the oven.
2. Heat the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until foaming. Add the shallots, tomato paste, and allspice. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots are softened, 7 to 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Whisking constantly, gradually add the chicken broth; stir in the reserved tomato juice and the roasted tomatoes. Cover, increase the heat to medium, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, to blend the flavors, about 10 minutes.

After adding roasted tomatoes to the soup base; ready for boiling.
3. Strain the mixture into a medium bowl; rinse out the saucepan. Transfer the tomatoes and solids in the strainer to a blender; add 1 cup of the strained liquid and puree until smooth. Combine the pureed mixture and remaining strained liquid in the saucepan. **Or use your cool new immersion hand blender.** Add the cream and warm over low heat until hot, about 3 minutes. Off the heat, stir in the brandy and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

I gave Patrick the honor of playing with the new toy first! It's great!

Served with grilled cheese croutons and in the gorgeous Occupied Japan china Granny and Poppa gave me for Christmas. We were having a little date night in. **note: soup is more than just a comfort food!

4 comments:

  1. I spotted your mixer!!! Also, you should add a "share this" tab to your blog posts so I can tweet them since you aren't on Twitter! the soup looks amazing by the way!

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  2. I tweeted it today!! I took back control of the old twitter (whitty_p). I'll talk to Patrick about the "share this" tab since I don't know how to do that!

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  3. There is a little share link in the upper left corner - does that work for you?

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  4. ohhh i see it! I'm going to make you famous whitney :-P

    ReplyDelete