It’s getting darker in the mornings and weather is dropping below 60F, so it’s soup season! Tomato season is drawing to a close, so the farms near me are rushing to harvest all their tomatoes before the cold sets in. These fresh tomatoes are so juicy and so sweet. I always end up with too many to eat fresh in sandwiches and salads, so I turn to tomato soup when I need to get through them all. This tomato soup thickens up on its own over time and requires very little work to make it shine. It doesn’t require a lot of baby-sitting and there are few ingredients required. After all my ingredients have spent a few hours together, I like to blend them up for a smooth texture. If you like the chunks, leave it as it!
I also like to save some leftover My Favorite Focaccia, chop it up into small cubes, and bake to dry out to make croutons. These croutons are lovely to top the soup with. If you would rather just have some bread to dip into the tomato soup, the fresh focaccia is great too.
Ingredients
Tomatoes – Use any that you like!
Basil/Heavy Cream – Both of these are entirely optional. I love to use fresh basil for this soup, but you can most certainly substitute with dried. I love a splash of the heavy cream in the soup to mellow out the acidity of the tomatoes and make the soup even creamier.
Tomato Basil Soup
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 5 lbs tomatoes
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup fresh basil
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Wash, core, and chop tomatoes into quarters. These do not need to be perfect as the tomatoes will cook down.
- Add tomatoes, salt, olive oil, and garlic to the pot on medium heat.
- Cover with a lid for 20 minutes for the juices to start coming out of the tomatoes.
- Uncover the pot, mix, recover, and reduce the heat to medium-low.
- Leave the soup to simmer for 2-4 hours. The soup will reduce and intensify the tomato flavor.
- Blend the soup to your desired smoothness.
- Optional – Stir in heavy cream for extra creaminess and top or blend in some fresh basil. Season with additional salt as needed.
Want more fall soups? Try Pumpkin Soup