If you don't have your own garden fresh tomato's or don't have a local farm market your better off using a good stewed tomato. As others said the quality of a tomato makes or breaks this and store bought tomato's have to be picked green and ripened at a wholesale house (Bestemans, Herrens ETC.) and a lot of flavor is lost. A stewed tomato is picked fresh and is canned within hours giving you a better flavor than gassed ripened.
Also I think you will find a little dill will add much to this!!
If you have no reservations against it MSG works good.
You could also add a small amount of celery flakes.
As others have noted, the quality of the tomatoes is probably key here. There is a huge discrepancy in taste between good and not very good tomatoes, the latter of which I find barely worth eating. I would suggest you make this soup in season and concentrate on getting your hands on the best tomatoes you can find- preferably from the farmers market or another shop that source produce well. Chicken stock- the second culprit. Ina always uses homemade. Another idea is to pick some up from your butcher or trusted grocery store. I've also heard swanson usually gets good reviews (from CI anyway). And lastly salt. Given, the discrepancies in chicken stock. you definitely must adjust for salt. proper salting goes a long way.
It really depends on the quality of the ingredients you got. Tomato is one of those ingredients that can vary greatly. Like someone else said, chicken stock can also vary as can cream, carrot, tomato paste, etc. Due to that reason, I always taste the food that I'm cooking and adjust ingredients/seasonings to suit my taste. Also, what taste good to one person may not taste good to someone else. Trust your own taste buds!
This recipe from Food52 has become my all-time favorite tomato soup recipe. Wanted to post just in case . . . . it's to-die-for-delish and so simple!
http://www.food52.com/recipes/382_my_grandmothers_tomato_bisque
Hard to say. For instance, 'chicken stock' can vary greatly in saltiness, so maybe it just needs a hit of s&p, if it seems bland.
The recipe also seems like it could benefit from a touch of acidity to brighten it up - either lemon juice, red wine vinegar or balsamic as suggested above.
I'm wondering if a little splash of balsamic vinegar might help to brighten it up? Although, truth be told, I love a nice pat of butter melted into my tomato soup!! But that's just me :)
How about serving it with some garlicky croutons made with a rustic bread? Mash garlic with a bit of kosher salt and some olive oil; toss cubes of country bread in that and then put them in the upper third of a quick oven (very hot, that is). Watch carefully, lest they burn. ;o)
greighstone here- new to this site not sure if this is the way to respond to the two folks who have kindly responded to my question- but yes the foodnetwork site is where I got the recipe
I found this one not sure if its the one greighstone is referring to:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cream-of-fresh-tomato-soup-recipe/index.html
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Also I think you will find a little dill will add much to this!!
If you have no reservations against it MSG works good.
You could also add a small amount of celery flakes.
http://www.food52.com/recipes/382_my_grandmothers_tomato_bisque
The recipe also seems like it could benefit from a touch of acidity to brighten it up - either lemon juice, red wine vinegar or balsamic as suggested above.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cream-of-fresh-tomato-soup-recipe/index.html