recipe: tomato soup.

sunday night, i tried a recipe for spaghetti alla puttanesca.  (let's not worry about the etymology of that name right now.)  it was my first encounter with puttanesca, as well as my first encounter with those salty little sons of the sea, anchovies.  now, i'm sure it was a well-written recipe, and i'm sure it was a tasty dish for fans of puttanesca.  i'm also sure that i am not one of those fans.  the tomatoes, garlic, and greek olives were wonderful.  i'm probably going to make a sauce made of just that in the future.  it was the anchovies, i think.  and the capers.  oh, lord, too many capers.  my tongue felt as though it was being assaulted.  too bitter, too salty.  not for me.

the title of this post, however, is "tomato soup."  so let's move on to the soup.

the puttanesca recipe called for part of a can of tomato paste. (well... a whole can, but i split the recipe because i am cooking for one, after all.)  i hate letting things go to waste in my fridge, so i was determined to find something delicious to do with that tomato paste.  and oh, i found it.  how i found it.  tomato soup so good i was a little in love by the time i finished my bowl. pomme d'amour indeed.  and one of the best things about this dish is that i already had everything i needed to make it, save for the fire-roasted tomatoes.  (which are $.79 a can at target, by the way.)

tomato soup so good you'll cry a little (adapted from a recipe at allrecipes.com)

1/4 cup butter
1 small onion, finely chopped (or a big sprinkling of dried minced, which is what i had)
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups chicken broth
2 (14.5 ounce) cans fire roasted diced tomatoes
1.5 tablespoons raw sugar
pinch ground nutmeg
salt and black pepper to taste


1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion, carrot, and garlic (unless you are using dried minced onion). Cook and stir until the vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 8 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute longer, stirring constantly. (i actually forgot this step and slowly added the flour in step two, after everything came to a boil. i made sure to whisk it well between each sprinkling of flour.  it worked really well, too.)

2. Stir in the tomato paste, chicken broth, tomatoes, sugar, and nutmeg. (this is where you add the onion if you're using dried.) Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes until the vegetables are very tender.

3. Give the soup a good stir. Pour half to three-quarters of the soup into a blender (depending on how chunky you want it), filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree.

4. Return the pureed soup to the saucepan. Season with salt and pepper to taste before serving. (preferably with a grilled cheese sandwich.  mine was white cheddar on whole grain bread.  mmmm.)

Serves 4 (i cut the recipe in half with no problems)