Tomato Soup

If you cook a few diced carrots along with the onions and tomatoes, you'll likely not need the sugar or the honey, as they will sweeten the soup perfectly. They will puree nicely with the rest of the ingredients.

Great recipe and well appreciated. Living in Italy, I adjust as follows: Reduce butter by half in favor of olive oil. Reduce sugar by half. Replace celery salt with a short stick of celery during sauté of onions. Replace half n half with whole milk. Serve it with grilled ham n cheese sandwiches and a salad.

To thicken without using flour, cook a cup of diced potato with the soup. When it's puréed you won't taste the potato. This also allows you to cut back a bit on the sugar as there is natural sweetness in the potato.

Our childhood fave--you-know-who's Cream of Tomato can't hold a can(dle!) to this. Yes to others below who halved or quartered the recipe, and to using whole canned tomatoes (though real imported San Marzanos are hardly "cheaper." But given the sugar, the honey seems excessive; also, I know from an often-made similar recipe that (1) flour is completely unnecessary; and (2) a tiny sprinkle of nutmeg really works!

Before sauteing the onions, I first add tomato paste to the pot and let it caramelize; it adds a depth and different dimension of tomato flavor. I also throw in a splash of vodka, since tomatoes have flavinoids that are not soluble in water, but which are released to taste in alcohol.

I just have to grumble about all that added sugar and honey. Absolutely unnecessary. The onions also add sweetness, and the idea of a sweet carrot or two is also nice. But the more we add sugar to vegetables, the less their actual flavor comes through--and the more we become accustomed to added sugar. Julia Child had it right.

Just made it tonight but replaced butter with earth balance vegan butter sticks, used low sodium vegetable broth in place of chicken stock and substituted unflavored light soymilk for the half and half....soup was DELICIOUS!!! And totally VEGAN!

This soup is a ten. That’s based purely on how much my 5 year old and 2 year old children enjoy it. We’re mostly gluten-free and vegan so a few modifications based on others’ comments. All great: 1 russet potato instead of flour 1 stalk of celery sautéed with onion (didn’t have any celery salt) Cashew cream almond milk instead of half\half. Substituted 1/2 olive oil and 1/2 Earth Balance for butter 1 carrot instead of sugar.

I will try this since I've not used chicken broth before. I often use regular 2% milk instead of cream. To keep the milk from curdling, I add a little bit of baking soda to the tomatoes first, which cuts down on the acidity, and helps to prevent curdling.

A few more suggestions:

1. Instead of celery salt, add a small stalk of celery, finely diced, to the onions in Step 1. The celery melts away in texture but the flavor is there, and less salt.
2. I used our own tomatoes, frozen whole from last summer's garden. I thawed them slightly in hot water, still in the freezer bags to keep the juices, then added them whole. This added about 10 minutes to the Step 3 cooking time.
3. I added only a tablespoon of sugar - the honey was enough.

My family says this is the best soup I've ever made. True confession: I mixed fat-free half & half with skim milk. Also after blended, added some shredded sharp cheddar, parmesan and a teaspoon dollop of basil pesto. Clearly these are optional additions.

Substituted olive oil for half the butter, still had all the richness with some healthy fats. This recipe makes an ENORMOUS amount. Next time I will halve it. But that will be awhile as my freezer is loaded with servings of this soup. Fortunately it is supremely delicious, so I'm not complaining.

This was superb! I made the following adjustments:
--Halved the recipe, which yielded enough to feed two hungry people with leftovers for lunch the next day;
--Omitted the celery salt, sugar, honey, and half-and-half;
--Added celery, carrots, and garlic to the onion saute; and
--Garnished with freshly-grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and Italian flat leaf parsley.
Easily the best tomato soup I've ever made. I think the butter-tomato combination is the key.

Very tasteful and easy recipe! Try the following to taste:

1. Add some Dry Gin to each serving (not into the cooking pot).

2. Sprinkle chopped parsley over each serving.

3. Put a table spoon of (sour) cream on top of each serving. Maybe using less half & half.

Oh, and I also don’t use flour, not neccessary in my oppinion.

This is very good. Easy to make, just follow instructions as written. Made half the amount. I used half diced tomatoes and half tomato sauce. I would consider making it with whole canned tomatoes (cheaper) given that in the end you run everything through the blender. Next time I make it am going to add some sweet red pepper...maybe half a pepper. Anyway, this is a good, creamy, satisfying tomato soup. Great with a sandwich.