Here at Food52, we love recipes -- but do we always use them? Of course not. Because once you realize you don't always need a recipe, you'll make your favorite dishes a lot more often.
Today: Food52's Managing Editor Brette Warshaw explains why tomato soup should be your go-to pantry meal -- and how to make it without a recipe.
Remember last week, when you stocked your pantry and printed out recipes and planned your meals and decided to cook responsibly, virtuously, and nobly this year?
This is what you're going to do.
Tonight, or any night this week, or for lunch, or for a late night snack, you will turn to your newly-stocked pantry. You will take out a can of tomatoes. You will turn on your stove. And with three ingredients -- or more, if you so choose -- you will have a bowl of steaming happiness in front of you: a bowl to cradle on your lap as you watch Downton Abbey, or to dunk a grilled cheese in, or to pair with a fabulous main course that you had meticulously planned out (because you obviously did that, right?).
Here's how to make tomato soup your savior this year.
How to Make Tomato Soup Without a Recipe
1. Chop an allium or two; onions, garlic, shallots, and leeks are all fair game.
2. Heat a generous glug of olive oil in a big pot, and saute your alliums with a big pinch of salt until they're nice and soft. Add any spices you'd like; try black pepper, red pepper flakes, thyme, or cumin.
3. Add a big can of tomatoes and a cup of water or broth. (If the tomatoes are whole, break them up with your hands as you add them.) You can get roughly 4 servings out of a 28-ounce can, or, if you're like me, you can finish it yourself.
4. Let it all simmer down to your desired thickness; this will take around twenty to thirty minutes. Taste it -- the tomatoes should've lost their raw wateriness by now. If not, keep on simmering until it tastes good. Season with salt and pepper. If you're adding cream or milk, swirl it in now.
5. Once the soup has cooled slightly, blend! You can use an immersion blender if you want to keep it chunky, or blend half and mix it back in. Serve it with toast or grilled cheese or a salad. January just got a whole lot better.
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Photos by Mark Weinberg
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Written by: Brette Warshaw
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35 Comments
Everytime when I feel like having healthy homemade tomato soups I just order it from Raw Pressery. Below is the link if you want to order:
https://www.rawpressery.com/tomatosoup.html
Harvey Ball, I think she means not a bookbound or whatever recipe...
Quantumnerd......my recipe is as organic as it gets...see below
Now here's the 5 steps you need to do, along with ingredients, quantities, and cooking instructions.
Isn't that exactly what a recipe is????????????????????
Take out as many tomatoes as you think you'll need and thaw, when the outside is thawed...cut out stem piece and rub the skin in your hands till it seperates from fruit/veg. fine chop or squish with hands.
Using olive oil, saute chopped onions and garlic and celery till barely golden to release flavors and then add tomatoes...and simmer till the right consistancy.
S & P to taste, and a tiny pinch of nutmeg and a few flakes of basil...(sometimes a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of vinegar) if you want to add cream or milk do it now....just before serving. I only use organic, and home grown as much as possible
Only reason to use the stove for the onions first is if you have the time and/or inclination to fully caramelize them.
If you don't have cream (or are feeding vegans) and still want to add creamy body to the soup a can of white beans works a treat too.
See what other Food52 readers are saying.