Homemade Tomato Soup

When your summer vegetable crops come in and you just can’t get enough of those luscious tomatoes, consider tomato soup. Most of us enjoy soup in the cool months, not considering it when the temperatures rise. Tomato soup is a delightful soup to enjoy at room temperature or even chilled. The tomato flavor is bright and the texture is soothing. This soup is a perfect meal starter to replace a salad or have a soup and salad meal with both being chilled. All you need to complete the feast is some warm sourdough bread with butter melting into it.

Use your homemade tomato sauce as a base for this tomato soup. We recommend a roasted tomato sauce which we describe here. For an almost instant meal, save two cups of your finished roasted tomato sauce at the end of the processing time. Put the sauce in a blender or food processor and follow the rest of the instructions. You will have soup in the blink of an eye. This magic is one perk for making your own roasted tomato sauce. You’ll be planning the sauce project completion to coincide with dinner.

For the fresh tomatoes you will add to your soup, choose the ripe but unattractive ones. The beauty of the tomato is not significant in this recipe. Just make certain your tomatoes are fully ripe. That garden fresh ripeness is what makes this soup work.

Homemade Tomato Soup Ingredients

• 2 cups roasted tomato sauce
• 4 cups cubed ripe tomatoes
• 1 heaping teaspoon smoked paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Homemade hot sauce (optional)
• 2/3 cup whipping cream (optional, or more to fit your taste)
• Ribboned basil leaves and shredded Romano cheese for garnish

Homemade Tomato Soup Steps

1. Wash the tomatoes and set to drain.
2. Remove the stem ends and any blemishes from the tomatoes then cut into large cubes.
3. Place the tomato sauce, tomato cubes, and smoked paprika into a blender or food processor. Pulse, checking for consistency. You may like this soup a bit chunky. We like it thick and smooth. You decide.
4. Taste for salt and pepper. Depending on the seasoning in your tomato sauce, you may need to add little more. Use your best salt and freshly ground pepper. The success of this soup depends on using prime ingredients.
5. If you like zip in your tomatoes, add a little hot sauce. Go slowly and carefully with this. Too much hot sauce can overwhelm the subtle flavors of this dish. I usually have a small jalapeno in my batch of tomato sauce which gives just a hint of heat.
6. Stir in the whipping cream with a spatula. You may like a little more or a little less than indicated. You’re the architect. Make the soup fit you and your family.
7. Ladle soup into bowls to serve immediately, or put the bowls in the freezer for 30-40 minutes to get a nice chill.
8. Garnish the bowls of soup with ribbons of fresh basil and shavings of Romano cheese.

This soup will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of days but does not freeze really well due to the fresh tomato content. When frozen, the flavor stays nice but the texture does not. If your enthusiasm gets out of control and you make a barrel of this soup, call in your friends and make it a party.