delicious, easy, and delicious (and easy!) tomato soup--which is delicious and easy.

i was thinking i might also start posting recipes in here--since cooking is something i'm starting to really get into. i made tomato soup a week or so ago that was a pretty epic procedure, and while i think i could improve upon the recipe i used, if you dig the spicy taste of the homemade stuff, this is pretty much where it's at.

the best thing about this soup is that you really don't need to go on a big grocery store adventure to make it--most of this stuff i just had in the kitchen already, and i'm guessing that means most other people would, too, as my kitchen is anything but "well stocked."

i got this recipe from my new favorite blog, the kitchn, which i found while perusing google reader, which my friend aaron got me into a few weeks ago. i'm still fine-tuning my reader and working on adding things i'll actually read while eliminating those i won't--this blog, though, will stay on for sure.


ingredients

all you need is a half a stick of butter, an onion, a carrot, one stalk of celery, 2 (28 oz) cans of tomatoes (the recipe recommended crushed, but being that you end up blending the whole thing anyway, i'd argue that you can really use any old canned tomatoes and be just fine), some fresh parsley, 4 cups of either vegetable or chicken stock (i used veggie., but if i tried this recipe again, i might go with chicken to see if it's any different), and some milk (although the recipe recommended heavy cream--which i did use--i think any old dairy, again, would do just fine).

recipe

chop up all of the veggies and toss them into a big (and i mean biiiiig) soup pot with about 3 tablespoons of butter. i, personally, always use more butter than the recipe calls for--which might, now that i think about it, be why i'm getting a little fat. oh well, at least my food tastes good, right? anyway, sauté those veggies until they're tender (not browned). if i had to do it again, i think i'd try browning the onions first--and maybe even adding a few more than the recommended "one small;" i like the sweetness of cooked onions and i find them hard to regulate when there are other vegetables in the mix. anyway, once you've gotten everything softened up--which should only take a few minutes, probably 8 tops--add everything else (minus the dairy) and simmer. keep the parsley as (about 6) full sprigs and, once the carrots are tender (i'd give it about a half an hour, maybe a little less), take the parsley out and toss it. blend everything in a blender and add whatever liquid dairy you've selected--and i'd say, here, just use your judgment and pour until you think you have enough. some people like their tomato soup straight up, some (like me) like it creamy, so it really is all about personal preference. i'd save the salt and pepper for the individual bowls and let everyone put in as much as they'd individually like.

now, if you're into this sort of thing (and i am), when you've got the soup simmering, take a sourdough baguette and slice it up into bite-sized pieces--as many as you think you would like to top your soup. put them in a bowl and toss with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and about 2 tablespoons of parmesan cheese. put them on a cookie sheet and bake them at 400º for about 10 minutes--they were, for me, the best part of the entire meal; i actually just made them again for lunch with canned tomato soup and they were delicious.

anyway, there you have it!

:::edit:::

i forgot to mention--my favorite way to eat tomato soup is with grilled cheese, which just about everybody knows how to make, but still, i'm adding a recipe here:

for each G.C., take two slices of white bread (i'm sorry, healthy people--there is no other way), and one slice of american cheese. i've tried good, expensive and cheap kraft american cheese and actually really prefer the kraft, but that, again, is up to the individual. take a medium frying pan and brown a small pat of butter in a bread-slice-sized square, then place one piece of bread over it. put a slice of cheese on there and then--here's the key--take some worchestire sauce and dribble a little of that on there. trust me, it's amazing and, in this case, the brand-name expensive stuff really makes a difference. top off with the second slice and take another pat of butter; lift the whole sandwich with a spatula, artfully balance it while you smear the butter into another bread-slice-shaped square, and flip it over (carefully) to brown the other side. and, and i'm sure this goes without saying, cut on the diagonal, people. for christ's sake. it's tradition.