Last Updated on May 20, 2016 by Stacy Averette
Thanks to gardens, green thumbs, and generous friends we’ve had plenty of tomatoes this summer. Last week a friend from church called and said, “Call your husband and tell him to meet me in the church parking lot on his way home from the office and I’ll give him a bag of tomatoes.” I expected four or five sweet, homegrown tomatoes–enough for a round of tomato sandwiches for a bunch of hungry kids.
Eric comes home with a bag FULL of large, perfectly ripe tomatoes. We did have several delicious tomato sandwiches for lunch and BLT’s for breakfast one morning and still had 7 or 8 tomatoes left. Since no respectable {and frugal} country girl would waste a single homegrown tomato I had to make a plan—and quick. I found a recipe that kind of included what I had in the pantry. Here’s my version of it:
Ingredients:
- Olive or vegetable oil
- 2 medium onions, chopped
- 2 T. minced garlic
- 5 cups of chicken broth*
- 7-8 tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
- Small can of tomato paste
- Fresh Basil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- *I keep chicken and beef bouillon cubes in my pantry to use as seasoning and to make broth at times like this when I need it and don’t want to go to the store. It’s cheaper, too. To make the 5 cups of broth add 5 cups of water and 5 chicken bouillon cubes to a saucepan. Simmer to dissolve cubes while you proceed with step 2. If you bought chicken broth you can skip this step:-)
- Add 2 tablespoons of oil to a large saucepan and heat over medium-high heat.
- Add chopped onions to pan, stirring frequently for 4 to 6 minutes, or until onions are translucent. I like to add a little salt here, too.
- Add minced garlic, stirring for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium and add broth to onions and garlic. Boil gently for 15 minutes.
- Add peeled, chopped tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes.
- If you like your tomato soup chunky it’s ready to eat. However, I like to blend mine to get a really smooth texture. FYI!: Only add a cup at a time to the blender. The hot liquid will be all over you and your ceiling if not. Be sure to use a dish towel or pot holder to press down and hold the lid of the blender before you turn it on! Transfer pureed soup to a large serving bowl until all mixture has been blended. (I don’t have one but I think you could use a food processor instead.)
- Add chopped fresh Basil, stir, and enjoy.
I served this soup with Texas Toast grilled cheese sandwiches. Best meal ever! Ok. I exaggerate a wee bit. My best meal ever is usually whatever I ate last. But the tomato soup was really, really good! This recipe served 6 hungry people with several servings left over. I hid the left-overs in the back of the fridge and I’ll probably have to share it. But I think I know where I can get more tomatoes ’cause now I’m craving a Homemade Ham and Tomato Pie. You can find that recipe here if you’re wondering what to do with your tomatoes.
So what do you do with your tomatoes? Got a recipe I need to know about? Email me or leave a comment. I’m always looking for my next “best meal ever”.