Fresh Tomato Soup Recipe

[karstopography]

Anyone have a favorite? Plenty of recipes online, but maybe y’all have an even better one. Something smooth and creamy sounds great. La Madeleine always had a great tomato basil soup, but homemade could be twice as good.

[pepperhead212]

My favorite is gazpacho - something I learned when I was in Spain, as a child, and have eaten it ever since. The kind I make is with very ripe tomatoes, some cucumbers, peeled, if waxed, some red bell peppers, just a little garlic (it's raw, so it is strong), a small shallot, as the onion in it, and some sherry vinegar - something always used in this. The traditional way of thickening this is using some stale white bread, which I rarely have around in the summer (too hot to bake). However, I came up with an easy, and nutritious way of thickening it - chia seeds! I put enough in the blender to thicken it, after briefly blending everything just enough to liquefy them, blend just enough to mix the seeds in, then let them sit 5-10 min, to gel.
Then, blend until everything is totally smooth. Then, slowly drizzle in some extra virgin olive oil, letting it emulsify as it drizzles in.

This is chilled, and served with diced vegetables (the same things that go into the soup), chives, croutons, and bread, if that is being baked.

Another favorite tomato soup is a ratatouille soup - made with the same basic ingredients, with some water or chicken broth added. This is all blended smooth, and served with some more chopped basil, and some chives. It is good hot or cold, but I usually eat it cold, since it would be in the summer.

[KathyDC]

This is my absolute favorite!!! tomato soup recipe. It's really more "tomato and vegetable soup" but it mostly features the tomato.

This is from an old Martha Stewart cooking magazine (not Living, but the small format one - I can't remember what it was called now).

6 beefsteaks, halved and cored
2 leeks, white and green cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 carrots, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic
2Tb olive oil
salt and pepper
2 cans (14.5oz each) vegetable broth
1/4c fresh chopped basil

Preheat oven to 425.

In a roasting pan, toss tomatoes with leeks, carrots, garlic and oil. Season with salt and pepper. Make sure tomatoes are cut side down.

Roast in a single layer until tender, 1 hour.

Remove tomato skins with tongs.

In a saucepan, bring roasted vegetables, broth and 1c water to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Puree in blender. (I use an immersion blender and puree right in the pan.) Stir in basil and serve.

It's the best tomato soup I've ever made at home, and very healthy -- no dairy or flour roux, or animal products if that's a concern. It also freezes well!